Darkwing Duck Returns
by Scyphi
Summary: Darkwing Duck has been missing for over seven years, and is presumed dead by most, if not all. But that might change when Gosalyn finds a clue that indicates otherwise... Please R&R!
1. Beforehand

Summary: Darkwing Duck has been missing for seven years, and is presumed dead by most, if not all. But that might change when Gosalyn finds a clue indicating otherwise...

Rated: K+ (just to be safe)

Takes place just after the original series ended at first, then jumps ahead seven years.

DARKWING DUCK RETURNS

Chapter One

Beforehand

It was a seemingly calm night in the metropolis town of St. Canard. But, like a lot of things, appearances where deceiving.

"I'm the terror that flaps in the night! I'm the gum that sticks to your shoe! I'm Darkwing Duck!" a voice challenged the night. But as was expected, no one took up the challenge.

"Might as well be talking to a brick wall." Darkwing commented, sitting down on the ledge of the building's roof. "Of course, now that I think about it, I doubt anybody could hear me from on top of this skyscraper."

Times were especially rough for the crime fighter. F.O.W.L, the Fiendish Organization for World Larceny, had been recently disbanded by the top-secret government agency, S.H.U.S.H. Going with FOWL was half of Darkwing's enemies, leaving few behind for him to fight and battle every night.

To top it off, the usual supercriminals in St. Canard had all either been defeated or thrown into jail, among them was evil scientist Dr. Reginald Bushroot and Quackerjack, two of many of Darkwing's arch enemies. All that remained out there was Megavolt, a rat with a liking for electricity, lots of it, and Negaduck, Darkwing's own evil twin.

But Negaduck had virtually vanished, telling Darkwing that their last encounter really was the last and Negaduck really had gotten defeated. Darkwing had always suspected it was so, but there was significant room for doubt, plus Negaduck had a knack for always coming back. But never had he vanished for so long, he usually was back very quickly to taunt Darkwing again.

Megavolt, on the other hand, feared Darkwing, and more often than not, tried to stay out of Darkwing's way. More so than often for the past few months, telling Megavolt was fresh out of evil schemes for the moment. Of course, some of Megavolt's schemes were just for personal gain, but then, who's wasn't for a bad guy?

In short, the crime rate in St. Canard was at an all-time low, the first time in fifty years. Most were saying that was thanks to Darkwing Duck, which was good, but it didn't increase his popularity nor fan-base any. And for Darkwing, that was a very important thing in being a crime fighter.

"Whatcha thinking about, DW?" a voice asked from behind Darkwing.

Darkwing turned, and saw his sidekick and pilot, Launchpad McQuack, standing behind him, munching on a chocolate bar.

"Just how much things have changed, LP." Darkwing answered, turning back to face the St. Canard skyline. "Not much need for me to be out anymore."

"Sure there is!" Launchpad exclaimed, sitting down next to his friend. "What about that robbery yesterday?"

"That didn't count." Darkwing said. "That was merely a janitor accidently tripping the alarm."

"Okay, what about that woman you rescued last week?" Launchpad asked next.

"That didn't count either!" Darkwing said, frustrated. "She didn't even need saving. Her boyfriend was merely just tickling her so much her laughs became screams."

"But what about that little girl you stopped from trying to parachute off the roof of her house two weeks ago?" Launchpad asked.

"That was Gosalyn!" Darkwing exclaimed, slapping his purple cape aside in his swelling anger. "And I didn't even really save her, anyway. I just happened to be under her when she leapt, and her landing on me broke her fall."

Launchpad tried to think of another incident, scratching his head.

"Any other glorious moments you can think of, sidekick?" Darkwing asked sarcastically.

"No." Launchpad admitted unworried. He went back to eating.

Darkwing sighed. "Let's just call it a night Launchpad." he said. "We've been out here for half the night already, and nothing's happened. Might as well put the rest of the night to use."

He got up and started walking for the staircase leading off the roof. Launchpad followed. "How so?" he asked.

"By sleeping." Darkwing said. "I get little enough as is during the day."

"I don't see how." Launchpad said as they marched down the stairs. "It's summer!"

"Exactly." Darkwing said. "Gosalyn is out of school and home all the time."

"It can't be that bad, DW." Launchpad said as they walked out of the building on ground floor.

"Launchpad, she tired to blow up the living room with two-hundred fireworks just yesterday!" Darkwing exclaimed, climbing on the Ratcatcher, Darkwing's motorbike.

"That was just yesterday!" Launchpad pointed out, climbing into the motorbike's sidecar. "She doesn't do that everyday, does she?"

"No." Darkwing admitted as they took off down the silent streets, "The day before that she exploded _all_ ten of the potatoes I was going to use to make dinner in the microwave, and on Monday she cooked a double-batch of popcorn on the stove _without_ a lid on the pan."

"I'm sure she cleaned up the mess." Launchpad said.

"No, actually, she didn't." Darkwing said, "She left it to me to clean. Understand why I haven't been getting the sleep a crime fighter such as me needs now?"

"No," Launchpad stated defiantly, "What about the time-"

But he got no farther, for at that moment, the power all over St. Canard suddenly went out, plunging the Ratcatcher into darkness. Darkwing brought the motorbike to a sudden halt.

"Well, that was sudden." Launchpad remarked, blinking his eyes to adjust to the sudden change in light. "It's almost pitch black out here. The only source of light I see is the Ratcatcher's..."

Darkwing suddenly switched off the engine on the motorbike.

"...headlights." Launchpad ended, staring at the spot the headlight was glowing a moment before. "Now it really _is_ pitch black out here."

"Not quite, LP." Darkwing said, "Look, up ahead, there's a faint glow coming from further up the street."

Launchpad looked, squinting his eyes. "What do you think it is, DW?" he asked.

"There's only thing it could be!" Darkwing exclaimed, jumping from the Ratcatcher's seat. "Villainous actions!" The two ran off the corner the source was being emitted from while Darkwing continued. "Baddies at work! Foul play! Criminal operations! Felonious exertions!"

They rounded the corner and came face to face with...

"A streetlight!" Launchpad exclaimed.

Darkwing stared at the lonely lamp, glowing brightly.

"It's behind the black out?" Launchpad asked, confused.

"No..." Darkwing said, "But it's a clue. Look around you. All the other streetlights are dark. So why is this one still producing it's luminescent glow?"

"It's not the only one!" Launchpad exclaimed suddenly, "There's another down the street!"

He pointed at another streetlight, the only other one still glowing in sight.

"And it's on a street corner too." Darkwing noted, rubbing his beak. "Like a marker..."

He grabbed Launchpad's hand and dragged him back towards the Ratcatcher. "Quickly, Launchpad, to the Thunderquack!" he said, "We'll look for a pattern in these seemingly random glowing streetlights!"

They hopped onto the motorbike and zoomed off. "Good thing the hideout is nearby." Darkwing noted.

Moments later, they were cruising over St. Canard in the Thunderquack, a specially designed jet plane.

"Look DW!" Launchpad said as he piloted the craft, looking at the city below.

"I see it LP!" Darkwing exclaimed. "The still lit streetlights are making a trail through the city! It _must_ have been planned! Quick, take us lower, and lets see if we can find out why!"

Launchpad brought the Thunderquack into a nose dive and leveled out just above the roof tops of the buildings lining a particularly long stretch of lit streetlights.

"There's our culprit!" Darkwing suddenly exclaimed, pointing at a figure on what looked like a skateboard. "My arch nemesis, Megavolt!"

"I thought Negaduck was your arch nemesis, DW." Launchpad said.

"Well, he is." Darkwing admitted.

"And what about Quackerjack?" Launchpad asked.

"Uh, well, he is too." Darkwing said.

"And what about your neighbor, Herb Muddlefoot?" Launchpad continued undeterred.

"So I have a lot of arch nemeses!" Darkwing said angrily, "But my point is that Megavolt is down there, in the attempt of fleeing, no doubt, from causing this black out! And if we don't act swiftly, _he's going to get away!_" Darkwing got out of his seat and headed for the back of the jet. "Quick, we'll use Plan R to catch him!"

"Right, Plan R." Launchpad said, bringing the Thunderquack to hang over the fleeing figure below. "R for Ratcatcher."

* * *

Megavolt was grumbling to himself as he balanced on the self-propelling skateboard.

"Of all days for my getaway car to break down." He mumbled to myself, "Stuck on this battery with wheels instead, which doesn't even have a decent headlight...had to rig these streetlights to glow in order for me to see where I'm heading...going to draw Darkwing Duck here like a magnet...can't travel faster than thirty miles per hour on this thing...didn't even _need _to do this at all if-"

He stopped when he heard a faint hum. He looked up in time to see Darkwing Duck get dropped out of the Thunderquack on the Ratcatcher, revving the motorbike's engine as he landed to keep up with Megavolt.

"Oh no, not you!" Megavolt bemoaned. "Isn't there somebody _else_ you could be going after?"

"I am the terror that flaps in the night!" Darkwing Duck answered, pursuing after the rat as they both sped up, shooting down the dark road. "I'm the superhero who had nothing else to do! I'm Darkwing Duck!"

Gulping, Megavolt looked for an escape route, knowing that Darkwing's motorbike could easily outrun him. Seeing an narrow alley, he steered his self-propelling skateboard into it. Darkwing easily kept on Megavolt's tail, keeping him in the motorbike's headlights.

"You can't escape me, Megavolt!" Darkwing shouted as they both exited on the other side of the alley.

"Maybe not now!" Megavolt called back, realizing he had just unwittingly just took a shortcut in his original escape route, and was now much closer to his destination.

In sight directly ahead were a set of power poles with the lines running above the nearby buildings, crossing over the street. On one of the lines, speeding towards them was a contraption wheeling down the line like a bike on a tightrope. Dangling down from it was a handle on a long cable. As it passed over Megavolt jumped and grabbed it, and began to be carried away.

But he didn't go fast enough, for a moment later, Darkwing latched onto his feet, and he too was pulled away, as both of their vehicles zoomed onward a few feet by themselves until they crashed into each other.

"Go away!" Megavolt shouted at Darkwing, trying to shake the crime-fighter off his feet. Darkwing hung on tight, regardless.

"I'll only go away when you're safely in jail, Sparky!" he shouted at Megavolt.

"Don't call me Sparky!" Megavolt whined, trying to send an electrical charge through is suit to shock Darkwing off, but Darkwing was prepared, wearing thick gloves that shielded his hands.

They zoomed along the power lines for several moments more. Megavolt wanted to pull off Darkwing with his hands, but he needed both to hang on to his contraption.

"Give it up, Megavolt!" Darkwing shouted persistently, knowing Megavolt didn't have any means to get rid of him at the moment, "There's no way you would have gotten away with causing a black out!"

"You think I wanted to cause a black out?" Megavolt exclaimed, frustrated, "I mean, sure, I do that from time to time, it's how I relax, have a bit of fun, but I _had_ to this time, because the power converter on my getaway car broke down, and I needed to study another one in order to make a replacement, and the power plant just happened to have one!" He motioned to a small, chip-like, device he held between two fingers. "I was going to put it right back once I was done!" he promised.

"Sorry, Megavolt, but if it interferes with this city's everyday operations, I gotta stop you from doing it!" Darkwing said, shifting his position from where he hang off of Megavolt's feet.

"See, I knew you'd do that!" Megavolt continued, "I knew you'd find me if I kept those streetlights lit to mark my escape path, but I didn't have a choice there either, cause I can't see in the dark!"

"Well, neither can I, so at least we have that much in common." Darkwing admitted, he grunted as he tried to find a more comfortable position to hang from, "How much farther until your hideout Megs? I'm getting tired from hanging here, so let's hurry up and get this over with!"

"Not much farther now." Megavolt assured Darkwing. "See, there it is!"

The power line suddenly dipped and lead towards a short, three-story building, stopping to connect with the wiring in the building next to a window on the top floor. Megavolt began to skillfully swing into it, but he forgot to take Darkwing's presence into consideration, and fell short. Grabbing the windowsill, he hung there, wondering what to do now. Darkwing was one step ahead of him, and quickly scrambled up Megavolt and clambered through the window.

Safely inside the building, he turned back around the face the window and pulled the power converter from Megavolt's grasp.

"Hey!" Megavolt complained, swiping at it and nearly losing his grip and falling, "I need that!"

"Sorry, Sparky, St. Canard needs it more than you do." Darkwing said, holding the converter in his hand and studying it.

"DON'T...CALL...ME...SPARKY!" Megavolt said, pulling himself into the window, and took Darkwing's distraction as an opportunity to aim a bolt of energy at him.

Darkwing dodged the bolt at the last possible moment, whipping out his gas gun from his belt. "Suck gas, evil-doer!" he shouted, pulling the trigger.

The capsule containing a fair amount of sleeping gas shot towards Megavolt, but as Megavolt slid through the window, he slipped and fell to the floor. The capsule zipped over his head and out the window. Megavolt reacted quickly, and let loose another bolt of electricity. This one struck Darkwing's gun, knocking it from his grasp and into a corner.

Before Darkwing could move to retrieve it, Megavolt tackled him. They fell to the floor, and rolled about for several moments, fighting, occasionally knocking into the worktables Megavolt had lined around his hideout. Finally, Darkwing managed to get both of his webbed feet under Megavolt, and kicked the villain off of him and into a nearby chair. Darkwing grabbed the first thing that would work as a rope, in this case some kind of electrical cable, and began tying Megavolt up to the chair.

Megavolt sighed, allowing himself to be tied up. "Guess I lose." he said, "Again."

"Cheer up." Darkwing said, wrapping the end of the cord around Megavolt's arms, "The police department has been building a cell just for you."

"Yeah, I've heard of it." Megavolt admitted. "They're building individual cells for every supervillain, each one designed to keep it's occupant in, neutralizing each one's special abilities. In my case, it'd be electrocution proof. Which means that unless a miracle happens, I'm not getting out of there anytime soon."

Darkwing nodded in agreement. "If it makes you feel any better, once you're in jail, I'm pretty much out of a job." he said, starting tie the cord. "With these new special cells and St. Canard's crime rate at an all time low among other things, no one really needs a crime fighter anymore."

Megavolt was slightly surprised by this news. "So..." he said, cautiously, "What are you going to do when that happens?"

"I don't know." Darkwing admitted. "I might retire, or, more likely, find crime somewhere else in the world."

He was still tying the knot. Megavolt was watching intently. "Um, you may want to be careful." he said suddenly. "That cable is touching my power battery, and sometimes it'll discharge without warning. And seeing that your improvised rope _is_ a power cord, the electrical current would carry through it up to your..."

He didn't need to say anything more after that, for the event he was describing actually happened, and the end result was that it shocked Darkwing, who had at one point lost both of his gloves in the fight. Surprised, the crime fighter staggered backwards towards another open window on the other side of the room. Then, before Megavolt could say a thing more, Darkwing tripped and fell over, sailing right out the open window and vanishing from sight.

Megavolt gasped, wondering if Darkwing was alright. The chair he was strapped in had wheels, so he twisted it around and used his feet to push off the nearby wall and rolled across the room. He slapped into the opposite wall, next to the window Darkwing had tumbled out of. Leaning over, he tried to peer out the window. He leaned slightly too far, and the chair rolled out from under him, causing him to first smash into the windowsill, then crash to the floor.

But he had seen all he needed to see. Outside the window, over four stories below, was the St. Canard river. With nothing to catch as he fell, Darkwing Duck undoubtably fell into the river and was swept away on it's fast moving current...


	2. Aftermath

Chapter Two

Aftermath

Seven years later...

Gosalyn Mallard marched down the hallway of her school, feeling glum, as well as very angry. Her reputation for reacting badly to others while that mad being well known throughout the school, the other students generally kept their distance. Except for Honker Muddlefoot, Gosalyn's neighbor and good friend.

"What's wrong, Gosalyn?" Honker asked, shyly, struggling to keep up with the bigger and faster Gosalyn.

"Oh, it's that Dave Waddleschiemer." Gosalyn said, "he's such a jerk. What's worse is that he goes through with all of that trouble to just make someone's day worse."

"Today was your day to be gizmoed, huh?" Honker asked understandably.

"And he went all out." Gosalyn said, unknowingly quickening her pace in her anger. "Food catapult, fake pencils, rigged water fountain, tacks in my gym shoes, everything gizmo the dolt every made he used on me today."

"I'm sorry to hear that, Gosalyn." Honker said softly, panting as he struggled to keep up with his friend.

"The worse was probably the spit ball shooter." Gosalyn continued undeterred, speeding up even more. "He used it while I was giving my history report to the class, the one I spent all of last week preparing for, and the spit ball hit me right on the tip of my beak. Class burst out laughing, report was unsalvageable after that, day _totally _ruined, and what worse is that the fight Dave and me had to settle things was broken up by the teachers before I really could get my two bits in on the matter. Ooh, if only I had another five minutes alone with him, I would really pound him, teach him a lesson he..."

"Gosalyn, can we slow down?" Honker asked, very winded by this point and all but unable to keep up.

"Oh, sorry, Honk." Gosalyn apologized, stopping for Honker to catch up. "I just had a bad day today."

"Well, at least the school day is over now." Honker said, once they had continued on, exiting the St. Canard High School. "You always said that anything bad that was going to happen to you would only happen at school."

"Yeah, well what about that time when me and Dad switched bodies for a day?" Gosalyn questioned. "Or what about the time I got turned into a blob of goo? Or the time we found out that all of the money we were growing on that tree was fake? That was probably the worse day of my life, because that meant I was poor again..."

"But Gosalyn, those all happened years ago." Honker pointed out as they walked down the sidewalk on main street. "Nothing like that has ever happened since your Dad..."

"Just, forget it!" Gosalyn suddenly said. "I don't need reminding!"

"Okay." Honker said. "Of course, that could change anyway if your dad ever came..."

"Honk, it's been seven years." Gosalyn interrupted, stepping in front of Honker to confront him. "He's not coming back."

And with that, they continued on their walk home. It was a hot day in late summer, however, and soon they were both quite hot. Brushing sweat out of her eyes, Gosalyn spotted a small store nearby.

"How about we get some soda to drink?" she suggested to Honker. "That should cool us down."

Honker nodded in agreement, so they entered the store. Lining the back wall were refrigerators filled with all sorts of drinks. Gosalyn opened one and pulled out two cherry sodas for the both of them. She handed one to Honker and started to leave, but Honker stopped her.

"Look, Gosalyn, it's your Dad." he said, pointing.

Looking in the direction he pointed, Gosalyn saw a shelf of milk cartons in one of the refrigerators. On the back of each carton was a picture of her Dad. Under it was the text:

**MISSING**

**DRAKE MALLARD**

**AGE: 42**

**MISSING SINCE: AUGUST 31, 1995**

**IF SEEN, CALL 1-800-555-2334**

"I thought you said there was no chance of finding him?" Honker asked innocently.

"I did." Gosalyn said hotly.

"Then why is he still on these milk cartons?" Honker asked next.

"Launchpad." Gosalyn said simply. "He insists on it, and he's the adult, not me." she started walking off. "C'mon Honk, let's go."

They paid for their drinks and were soon on their way again, sipping on their sodas.

"August 31st..." Honker said aloud, his mind still on the milk cartons. "Hey, today's the thirty-first of August. That means that your Dad's officially been missing for seven whole years now."

"Thank you for the reminder, Honker." Gosalyn muttered sarcastically.

"I just thought you'd want to know." Honker said innocently.

"Yeah, well, I already knew, thank you very much." Gosalyn said rather harshly.

"But..." Honker began, but Gosalyn cut him off.

"Why can't you just leave the subject alone, huh Honk?" Gosalyn asked, turning on him. "I know all this already, but it's the past now, and I'd rather not worry about it anymore! Got it?"

Honker nodded, sorry he had sparked the outburst. As they began walking again, he changed the subject.

"How much homework did you get in Mrs. Eggsbit's class?" he asked.

Gosalyn promptly answered about how much homework she had gotten in that class, acting like the whole outburst moments earlier had never happened. Shortly there after, as they entered the suburb portion of St. Canard, they were discussing other annoying things about high school, the incident having been completely forgotten.

Until they passed a TV store.

Honker had been discussing the complexities of pre-calculus, so Gosalyn wasn't paying very much attention to his narrative, and was looking through the store window, hoping to catch a glimpse of her favorite monster movie that the store liked to broadcast on the TVs they were selling.

However, today they were broadcasting a live transmission of a news report about sports. Interested, Gosalyn stopped to watch. But as her luck would have it, the sports report ended, and another report began.

"Seven years ago today," the reporter began, his voice being broadcasted clearly despite a thick pane of glass divided Gosalyn from the TV, "a superhero St. Canard knows best as Darkwing Duck caught the last supervillian still roaming the streets. On that same night, accounts state he fell into the St. Canard river, and hasn't been seen since. Despite strong efforts to find him again, Darkwing Duck is still missing, and is presumed dead by the police. Today, on the anniversary of that event, we will take you back to Darkwing's time and give you a glimpse of what the crime-fighter did to make St. Canard what it is now."

"What, is everyone out to remind that he's gone today?" Gosalyn asked herself, annoyed, one hand pressed against the glass window.

"Gosalyn, are you still listening?" Honker suddenly called from the street corner, having just now realized that Gosalyn wasn't with him anymore.

"Yeah, Honk, be right there." Gosalyn assured him, and ran to catch up with him, trying to forget about the news report.

Finally, they arrived on their street. Honker said his goodbyes and entered his house, and Gosalyn entered her house on the left of the Muddlefoots. She was greeted at the door by the smell of something cooking.

"Launchpad, I'm home!" Gosalyn announced, throwing aside her backpack. "What are you doing? You aren't trying to cook again, are you?"

"Sure I am!" Launchpad called from the kitchen. "Been busy all day, making a cake."

"Cake?" Gosalyn repeated, alarmed. "You didn't make that triple layer vanilla surprise cake, did you?"

"Sure did!" Launchpad said, dusting flour off his apron as Gosalyn walked into the room. "Sitting right over there, ready for tonight."

Gosalyn walked over to the spot the simple white cake sat while Launchpad's back was turned, gathering cake slicers.

"Why, what's the occasion tonight?" Gosalyn asked, poking her finger in the frosting and tasting it. As she feared, it tasted awful.

"Tonight's the Darkwing Duck Fan Club's annual memorial party!" Launchpad exclaimed, wondering how Gosalyn could've forgotten that. "And they asked me to bring the cake for a centerpiece on the dessert table."

"Centerpiece?" Gosalyn repeated, even more alarmed now.

"That's right!" Launchpad said, happy with himself, placing the cake cutters into a small box. "Who would have thought it, huh? Me, making the most important part of the dessert course of a major event like that!"

"Who, indeed." Gosalyn said softly, wondering how she was going to prevent the cake from reaching that party.

"Gos, could you put a candle on that cake real quick?" Launchpad asked, picking up the box of cake cutters and a stack of plastic plates and heading out the front door to the car. "I'm going to be late."

"Sure thing, Launchpad." Gosalyn said, but instead of pulling out a regular candle from the drawer, she pulled a firecracker out of her pocket and stuck it into the cake, quickly lighting it.

Launchpad walked back in, as Gosalyn made sure to stand a good distance back. "Thanks Gos." he said, picking up the cake with both hands, looking his creation over. "And look at that, the candle even sparkles!"

Immediately after he said that, the firecracker exploded, taking most of the cake with it, splattering it all over, mostly on Launchpad. Gosalyn found it hard to stifle her laughter.

Launchpad set the tray the cake had sat on back down, and wiped frosting off his face. "What happened?" he asked dumbly.

"I dunno, maybe you put too much baking soda and vinegar in it again." Gosalyn quickly suggested, rushing over to help Launchpad clean up the mess, like she didn't know what happened. "Guess that means the party can't have that centerpiece now."

"Yeah, I guess so." Launchpad admitted, placing the rags they used to mop up in the kitchen sink.

"Well, great, Launchpad, I'll be in my bedroom if you need me." Gosalyn then exited the kitchen through the double door entrance and could be heard climbing up the stairs.

"Maybe I could just make some brownies instead." Launchpad said to himself, thinking.

Gosalyn's footsteps suddenly stopped for a moment. Then her feet could be heard pounding back down the stairs, rushing back into the kitchen. Swinging the doors open with a bang, Gosalyn shouted, "DON'T MAKE THOSE BROWNIES!"

"Ow."

"Huh?"

Gosalyn stepped into the kitchen and let the door swing shut. She had to stifle laughter again as she realized what had happened. Launchpad leaned against the counter, rubbing his head.

"You know," he said, "Those doors really hurt when they're slammed into your head." he rubbed his head for a few moments. "Now, what were you saying about my brownies, Gos?"

"Uh," Gosalyn hesitated, wondering how to approach this. "You made brownies last time, remember?"

"No." Launchpad answered.

"Well you did." Gosalyn said, taking Launchpad's hand and leading him over to the fridge. "Everybody's in the mood for something different this time around. Why don't you make your special fruit punch?"

Launchpad's face brightened. "Good idea, Gosalyn, everybody loves my fruit punch!"

He rushed off to put together the punch. Grinning, Gosalyn quietly sneaked out.

"Everybody loves it because it's the only thing you can make that actually tastes good." Gosalyn murmured under her breath.

She began climbing up the stairs again. Then Launchpad poked his head out the door. "Where're you going Gos?" he asked. "Aren't you going to the party?"

Gosalyn froze. "Launchpad," she said slowly, "how can it be a party when it's being held to remember someone whose been missing for seven years?"

"C'mon, Gos, it ain't like that." Launchpad said, coming to stand by the stairs. "This party is to celebrate all the great things your dad did."

"Right." Gosalyn said. "Look, Launchpad, I had a really bad day at school today, so I think I'll just stay here."

"Well, this party will cheer you up!" Launchpad coaxed. "Besides, it's the Darkwing Duck Fan Club that's holding it, the fan club _you_ founded! They'd be honored if you showed up!"

"And they'd never leave me alone for one second." Gosalyn muttered, "They'll all have to come and ask me a hundred questions a minute about Dad."

"Isn't that a good thing?" Launchpad asked, still puzzled at Gosalyn's unwillingness to go.

"Not for me." Gosalyn said. "Look, go on with out me LP. I'll be alright here at home. Hey, we've been meaning to clean out the attic, maybe I can work on that while you're out."

Launchpad hesitated, then went into the kitchen and pulled out the punch he had whipped up. "You sure?" he asked, before he left.

"I'm sure." Gosalyn assured him. "Personally, I'd rather remember the significance of this day my own way."

Launchpad grinned. "I guess I see what you mean, Gos." he said. "But cheer up, this doesn't have to be a bad day if you don't want it to be."

And with that he left. Gosalyn pressed her back against the wall running along the stairs and slid down into a sitting position, rubbing her eyes.

"If only it where that simple Launchpad." she said aloud.


	3. The Letter

Chapter Three

The Letter

Once Launchpad had left, Gosalyn marched up to the attic to start cleaning it, like she said she would. Opening the door, Gosalyn peered inside and flipped the light switch. Climbing the last few stairs into the room, she looked around and saw just how messy the room was. So far as she knew, no one had been up here for at least a year, and everything was draped in a fine layer of dust.

Picking up one box and dusting it off, Gosalyn read it's label. It was a box of her Dad's things. Setting it down and glancing at some of other odds and ends in the room, she saw that most of everything in the room had belonged to her Dad.

Emphasis on the "had."

He was gone now, and Gosalyn was sure of it. So now all of these things had no owner, and probably didn't need to stay here. Had it been left up to her, it probably would've been gotten rid of years ago, but Launchpad stuck it all up here, in hopes that it would be brought back out again when needed.

Launchpad had always had that hope. Even on the night Darkwing fell into the St. Canard River, he was sure that Darkwing would come back. He always had in the past. It seemed nothing could kill him. Gosalyn once shared that hope, but it was gone now. At what point, she didn't know, but she had always hunched it had left that night seven years ago.

It had been a very tragic night. Actually, it was technically morning when it happened, but for Gosalyn at that age, it was still night. She was nine then, almost ten. She was supposed to be sleeping that night, but and instead stayed up to watch TV after Darkwing and Launchpad had left for the usual nightly patrol.

At some point, she had drifted off into a light doze, but was awakened to Launchpad picking her up to carry her off to bed. Launchpad apparently didn't notice, for he made no note of it. But Gosalyn had seen his face. He looked slightly worried, worried enough to make her wonder what had happened.

She wanted to ask what, but Launchpad took her straight to bed and then left the room, thinking that she was asleep. A moment later, she heard his bedroom door close. It had been customary that when Darkwing came home while Gosalyn was asleep, he would come in to double check that everything was okay.

But he didn't that night. Gosalyn waited for him to come in the rest of the night, assuming he would come momentarily, but he never did. Getting worried herself, she eventually got up and went to her Dad's bedroom to see if he had forgotten his usual habit and went straight to bed, but he wasn't there. A brief search of the house proved unsuccessful in finding him too.

Knowing Launchpad would've have an explanation, she went to his room, and found that he was awake too. She didn't even need to ask, Launchpad already knew what her question would be and began to explain what had happened.

When he was done, Launchpad made it clear that they probably didn't need to worry too much. Darkwing had a habit of vanishing before, but he always came back. So they waited for three days. It was on the third day that questions arose from them and their neighbors. Darkwing still hadn't come back as either Darkwing Duck, nor as his secret identity, Drake Mallard.

It was clear that something had happened to Darkwing, and now they had to figure out what. Word of Darkwing Duck's disappearance had spread rapidly and the police were already on the look out for him, but no one was looking out for Drake Mallard except Launchpad and Gosalyn. Since they had no clue what had happened to Darkwing, they didn't know which they should focus their attention on. For awhile they had debated whether or not to tell the police that Drake Mallard was missing too, fearing that someone might notice that he and Darkwing Duck both vanished on the same day and add two with two, before they finally did.

They ended up not regretting that choice, for now they had close contacts with the police for the search for both figures, and no one questioned the fact about the two disappearing on the same day except for one tabloid news paper, and it had only mentioned it briefly the one time, and never again. Gosalyn once called up and asked why. The answer was that it wasn't "newspaper selling news."

After a month of searching, the police declared Drake Mallard dead. After another three months of searching after that, the police declared Darkwing Duck _possibly _dead. They never confirmed if he was indeed dead. In fact, according to the report, Darkwing Duck was declared "missing in action."

SHUSH's own investigation into Darkwing Duck's disappearance continued on into next year. They never found anything, and eventually discontinued the investigation, never announcing what opinion they had about the disappearance.

Finally, after Darkwing Duck had been missing for over a year, the Darkwing Duck Fan Club held it's first remembrance festivity of Darkwing, and invited Launchpad as a special guest. Gosalyn, still being the club's president at the time, was there as well. The club's numbers had dwindled over the past year, and it was no surprise why. More and more people where thinking that Darkwing was gone forever and moved on to other things.

One of the members had spoken with Gosalyn and stated he shared a similar opinion.

"I'm going to leave the club right after this party, in fact." he had said. "Don't get me wrong, Gos, Darkwing was a great guy, but why still be his fan when he's gone and never coming back?"

It was that night that Gosalyn decided the same thing, and decided to put it all behind her. The next day after that party, Gosalyn resigned from being the fan club's president and stopped attending what few meetings it had. She forced herself to stop being sad about her dad's disappearance and ignored and avoided as many discussions about Darkwing Duck or Drake Mallard as possible.

Launchpad attempted to comfort her, to convince her that Darkwing would still come back, an opinion he still believed in, but Gosalyn refused. So Launchpad learned to accept the fact that Gosalyn considered her own father gone, and a week later, asked Launchpad to pull out Drake's will, something Launchpad had been extremely against.

Launchpad accepted anyway, and together they read what it said. Most of it were things that they already knew about. Simple things, like full rights of the Thunderquack going to Launchpad, and Launchpad to become Gosalyn's guardian, and that the subject of Darkwing Duck be dropped, and preferably that neither of them go to fill in Darkwing's shoes. But it also said that Gosalyn was to choose what she wanted when she was old enough, so if she wanted, she could try to fill in her Dad's shoes.

But she never did, and never tired to. Launchpad respected Darkwing's requests, and left all of the crime-fighter's stuff alone, packing it all up into storage. The pilot preferred it that way anyway, again because he thought Darkwing wasn't gone. He was just late to reappear.

Gosalyn spent the next four years wishing she could think the same way, but ultimately, she gave up on that too, and decided that the best thing for her to do was to live a normal life from here on out. As such, she began to avoid the abnormal stuff, despite her unusual attraction to such things, and severed all her ties to the superhero world, or anything even remotely connected. She had considered herself succeeding admirably at this task over the years.

Until today.

It was like she was being haunted by it all today. Here she was, trying to clean an attic, and she couldn't even escape it here. It seemed like everything in the room had belonged to her Dad, ranging from a filing cabinet of old cases to a stack of never used eight by ten glossies to a pair of tennis shoes that Drake Mallard had never liked and never wore.

Gosalyn was half tempted to just haul it all out now, and get it over with. Then the attic would be perfectly empty. Still, she couldn't bring herself to do it. Instead of cleaning, she found herself opening boxes and looking through them, allowing herself, for the first time in years, to be caught up in her memories.

Setting aside a box of pictures, Gosalyn found a box on the bottom of a stack, labeled "Drake's football stuff." Having never really seen her father do much with the sport, Gosalyn tried to pull it out from the stack. She realized too late that she couldn't without tipping the stack over, just before the stack toppled down on her, taking three other stacks with her.

As the dust cleared, the attic was messier than when Gosalyn had entered. Coughing on the dirt in the air, Gosalyn dragged herself out from the tangled mess, surveying the damage.

"Great." she muttered , picking up a box and using it to start a new stack.

Picking up another box, she stopped, looking under the spot the box had sat.

"Keen gear!" Gosalyn exclaimed slowly as she realized what the object under the box was.

It was a letter. Picking it up, she read the simple, handwritten, label on it. It was composed of two lines. The first line said the letter was to Gosalyn. The second line said it was from Darkwing Duck. Not Drake Mallard, Darkwing Duck. The letter was not sealed, so Gosalyn lifted up the flap and pulled out the single sheet of paper within. It was folded so that the text written on the letter could not be seen. Written on the back in big, bold, hard-to-miss, letters said that the letter was for Gosalyn to read, and Gosalyn only.

The letter, for some reason, was even dated. But it was the date that grabbed Gosalyn's attention the most.

August 31, 1995.

Nervous, Gosalyn gently unfolded the letter, acting like it might explode any moment, and read the message written on it. It was very brief and to the point.

"_Gosalyn,_

_I am writing this letter to tell you several things, all of which I have little time to explain. First off, I am alright, I came out of my fall into the river unharmed. That is not the problem though. I am being chased, and they know where we live. They also know where my hideout is, and therefore I cannot hide from them at either place. I'm going to try and beat them at their own game, but it means I could be gone for awhile. I might not come back either._

_Besides me, you will be the only one who knows this once you read this, and I want it to stay that way until it's over._

_How you act to this is up to you._

_-Darkwing Duck._"

Gosalyn sat stunned, holding the letter numbly in her hands, unsure what to think, besides one thing. There was a story behind Darkwing's disappearance. And there was a chance that he survived it.

And then again, he might not have.

Gosalyn knew that this single letter was a huge clue to so much, which could help her find so much, tell her so much. And yet she refused to get her hopes up. She wasn't exactly sure what the letter meant even. It hinted to the matter, but much of it was still in the dark. It seemed like Darkwing wanted Gosalyn to do something about it too, but what?

And why did he want this to be kept between just him and her? Had she found this letter years earlier, there would've been nothing she could've done about it if she couldn't tell anybody else.

Then, she got a really wild thought. Maybe the letter _wasn't _meant to be found years earlier. If her dad had really wanted her to find it right away, he would've made sure it would be put in a place where she could easily find it. Since it was put in the attic, that indicated that Darkwing Duck meant for it to _not_ be found so quickly.

But, why? It made no sense.

Gosalyn reread the letter, and stopped at the last line of it.

"_How you act to this is up to you._"

That line alone meant that Darkwing was leaving the choice up to Gosalyn. If she wanted to go and help Darkwing despite her age and inexperience, she could, and had Gosalyn found the letter earlier, she might have done that, justifying the matter by telling herself that she had gone along on enough of her Dad's missions that she could handle herself.

And that was probably true, even now, seven years later. And her dad probably knew that. Did that mean that he wanted her, to come and help him, despite all the times he was against her doing any hero work in the past? How come?

The letter began to shake as her hand began to tremble. Could she, or rather, _would_ she do such a thing now? She had put all of that in her past long ago, sworn off ever getting mixed up with hero work again, despite the expectations and wishes of others. But then, she _was_ the adopted daughter of Darkwing Duck.

Would a simple matter of destiny change all of that?


	4. Darkwing Tower

Chapter Four

Darkwing Tower

Gosalyn spent the rest of her evening cleaning up the mess she made in the attic, and left the attic looking like it had when she had entered. Quietly, she walked down to her bedroom and placed the letter she had discovered back in it's envelope and setting it down on her bedside table.

She then walked into the living room and flopped down on the couch, staring at the far wall, contemplating everything that had happened today. She then realized something about what she was staring at. Not the wall, but what sat directly in front of it. Two identical armchairs and a small, three-legged table, that sat between them with a small, wooden figurine sitting on top of that table.

Suddenly, a loud crash rang outside, announcing Launchpad's return. Moments later he walked inside, carrying the empty punch bowl and trailing confetti behind him.

"Man, what a party." he remarked, walking past Gosalyn and into the dining room. "Too bad you didn't come, Gos, you missed out on a lot of fun!"

"I still don't see how a memorial party like that could be fun." Gosalyn pointed out, turning around in her seat to watch Launchpad.

"Well, really, all you need is some silly string, some confetti, some spare time, and..." he trailed off, noting how bare the dining room table was. "Have you eaten anything while I was gone, Gos?" he asked, shaking confetti from his hair.

Gosalyn realized with a start that she hadn't, and told Launchpad that.

"Boy, DW wouldn't let me sleep if he found out I almost let you off without any dinner." Launchpad said, entering the kitchen. "Tell you what, let's have some of that instant spaghetti stuff that you like so much."

He quickly pulled two trays out of the freezer and pulled off their plastic coverings. Popping them into the microwave, he started to enter in the needed cooking time, rubbing the underside of his beak.

"Gos, how many zeros are there in three minutes?" he asked.

"Two." Gosalyn answered promptly, sitting at the table.

"You sure? I thought there was three."

"Three would make thirty minutes. If we cooked those things for that long, we'd end up with charcoal and melted plastic for dinner."

"Okay..." Launchpad said, starting the microwave. It was clear he was still skeptical.

However, after the three minutes where up, the meals came out looking as perfect as could be. Grinning, Launchpad set one tray down in front of Gosalyn, and then set one down for himself, and they began eating.

Gosalyn watched Launchpad eat with twice the gusto that she had. "How can you eat so much after you just went to an all-you-can-eat party?" she asked, bewildered at Launchpad's appetite.

"I'm hungry." Launchpad answered simply in-between bites. "So, what did you do while I was gone?" he then asked, wiping the tip of his beak with a napkin.

"I started cleaning the attic, like I said I would." Gosalyn answered. "Then there was a little mishap that I had to resolve and ended with the attic looking like it had when I entered."

"Ah, that's okay, we'll do it together this Saturday." Launchpad stated. "At least, if I don't forget it by then. You'll help me remember, right Gos?"

"Oh sure." Gosalyn said half-heartedly. She looked back into the living room. "Launchpad." she began. "When was the last time you were in Darkwing Tower?"

Launchpad seemed to be caught off guard at this question, for he looked mildly stunned and took several moments to answer. "Not for a couple years." he admitted. "I was last in there to make sure everything was packed up and ready for storing and wasn't there for much longer than five minutes. Haven't been back there since. Hasn't ever really been a need."

Gosalyn eyed the two armchairs she had been studying earlier. "Does that mean that the chairs no longer work?" she jerked her head in their direction.

Launchpad stared at the chairs for a long moment. "I don't know." He said curiously, "They're still connected to the tower and could be used as such, if that's what you mean, but they themselves haven't been used for anything more than sitting in for years, so I don't know if they'd work right." he suddenly gave Gosalyn an odd look. "Uh, why do you ask?"

"No reason." Gosalyn quickly lied.

Launchpad studied the chairs for a moment longer. "You know, I ought to disconnect those things. Someone might stumble upon their secret someday."

"No!" Gosalyn exclaimed, louder than she intended. "Er, no, I don't think you should. I mean, it's not like anyone's discovered them yet over the years. Besides, what if there's an emergency?"

Launchpad pondered on that for a moment. "I suppose you have a point there, Gos." he admitted. "I guess there wouldn't be any harm in leaving them as is. Of course, what if DW comes back to the tower and tries to come home that way, only to find the path blocked? Wouldn't want that, now would we?"

Gosalyn didn't answer. Instead she stared at her food until it was all gone. When he saw that she was finished, Launchpad gathered up their trays and put them in the trash.

"I must admit, Gos, those instant meal things are pretty good." he commented, glancing at his watch. "It's getting late. Time for all of us to go to bed."

He started up the stairs for his room. Gosalyn started to follow, but stopped long enough to glance back at the unsuspecting armchairs, half of her not believing what she was planning to do.

"You coming, Gos?" Launchpad called from the top of the stairs, having noticed she had stopped.

"Yes." Gosalyn called back, turning her back to the chairs and marching up the stairs to her own bedroom.

* * *

The house fell silent and dark for a couple of hours. Then, about an hour before midnight, a small light flickered on in one of the upstairs room. Squinting against the difference between the two differences in lighting, Gosalyn got up out of up, still dressed. Slipping some sneakers on, she took her flashlight and tiptoed out of her bedroom. Quietly heading over to Launchpad's bedroom, she cracked open the door and peered inside. Launchpad was sound asleep.

Satisfied, she made her way downstairs, going slightly faster, and came to stand in front of the two armchairs. The second thoughts that had been nagging her for the past two hours while she waited until Launchpad was asleep began to nag at her harder, but Gosalyn knew that her mind was pretty much made up now.

Still, she didn't have to do this. There was still time to turn back. Debating against herself, she half-turned to head back tot eh stair, only to half-turn back. Facing the front window, she peered out it. Only a few blocks away and complete visible from that window was the Audubon Bay Bridge, a large suspension bridge that divided the utopian part St. Canard from the suburb part, and from nearby Duckburg, only a half mile past that.

It, and everything that it held within it, seemed so close, and yet, at the same time, were so far away. Gosalyn knew that the choice that had been rather unkindly dropped before her made it that way. Had it been anytime before tonight, it wouldn't have made much difference to her. But now, it made all the difference.

She sorted through her thoughts once again, debated which side of the conflicting thoughts she would root for. Looking at the chairs again, she gently set the flashlight down so that it was balanced on it's end and shone upward at the ceiling on the small table that sat between the two chairs.

She hesitated again, realizing that if she kept this up, she could be here all night and still haven't acted. Sighing, she squeezed her eyes shut, and carefully lowered herself into one of the armchairs, tensing up like something would happen the moment she had fully sat in the chair.

But nothing did, for the chair was nothing more that your ordinary armchair, blue in color, and slightly overstuffed. Forcing herself to relax, Gosalyn looked over at the little figurine that sat unmoving on the table. She had forgotten just who the figurine was depicting, other than the fact it was of some famous dead guy and that she was never interested enough to listen to the stories her dad had to tell of the guy.

She looked down at her feathered hand, and balled it up into a fist, bringing it to hover above the figurine. She stared at the figurine for several long moments. It was wooden, brown in color, and was bolted to the table. No one in the household wanted it to be moved, and for good reason. Just like the armchairs, although there was more reason from them to be bolted to the floor than the figurine.

Shoving her debating thoughts to the back of her mind, Gosalyn brought her fist hard down on the figurine's head. It wobbled slightly, then everything fell silent. For a spilt second, nothing more happened, then the two armchairs began to spin violently, tipping over in place from end to end, with Gosalyn trapped somewhere in the middle of it.

Right at that point, Gosalyn's seconds thoughts finally won out and began to scream at her to bail out, now, and Gosalyn was all too inclined to agree, but it was too late. The momentum of the spinning chair threw her out of the chair, and downward, into a long dark shaft that sat directly below the armchair she was in a moment earlier.

Getting sucked along it like a dustball in a vacuum, Gosalyn spun around and around, mentally screaming, since she was unable to tell if she was screaming physically. Instantly regretting her choice, she felt her downward fall suddenly shift to a sideways fall for a moment, then just as suddenly, shift to an upward fall. Then she found herself in another spinning armchair that spun for another moment longer, before finally coming to a stop in the middle of the thick cloud of dust. Panting heavily and gagging on the dust, Gosalyn fought down the effects of her adrenaline rush.

She had forgotten how intense that ride was.

The dust finally began to settle, giving Gosalyn a chance to study her dim surroundings. There admittably wasn't much to see, for it was too dark to see clearly, but it wasn't home. A faint beam of light shone through a wide and extremely tall window sitting in the wall opposite from Gosalyn, and she walked over to the window and peered out, drawn to the light.

Directly below her was the silent road that stretched across the Audubon Bay Bridge. From this angle, most of her view was dominated by the Audubon Bay itself, but to one side the many lights of St. Canard could be seen, while on the other side was St. Canard's suburbs and the faint glow in the distance that Duckburg produced. She was in the top of one of the bridge's support towers.

Exactly as planned.

Gosalyn had forgotten who pretty the view was from here, and mentally added it to her growing list of the other things she had also forgotten about Darkwing Tower. Drawing her eyes away from the view, she moved along the wall to where she knew the light switch would be, and flipped it. The dim ceiling lights came one, bright enough to reveal what was in the room and allow one to move around, but dim enough to not be seen from afar.

Dust coated the entire room more than the stuff had lined the attic, telling Gosalyn just how long it really had been since someone was here. Making a mental note to dust the place if she didn't live to regret her final choice to come here, she looked around. Mostly everything had been draped over with white cloths, probably there to protect it from the worse of the passing time.

Lifting one cover, Gosalyn found the Thunderquack, right where Launchpad had left it, useless to her, since she could not fly it. Under another cover was the Ratcatcher, but she too left it alone. For the next five minutes, she went around the large room in the tower looking around, but ultimately failed in finding what she came for.

A clue as to where her dad had gone.

Obviously, it wasn't going to be that simple, but Gosalyn had to try. But, now what? Clearly, the clues she was searching for weren't here, and it was unlikely there would be more in the house. Which meant that the clues were somewhere out there in St. Canard. And the only chance she would get to really look for them on her own time, able to go wherever she wanted with no one standing in her way, was to...

No, she had told herself to stay out of this years ago, and that was a promise she was going to keep.

Right?

Again, her thoughts began to debate with one another again, but this time for different reasons. Frowning on the outside, but grinning inwardly, Gosalyn turned to face a small dresser that had been set in one corner.

When she was younger and Darkwing was still around, she would often assist in the crime fighting in her own costume and disguise, going under the name of Quiverwing Quack, in reference to the Quiverwing's use of a bow and arrows. It was clearly a childhood things of hers, something she had grown out of. As a result, Quiverwing was a thing of the past in her mind. She hated the name now, anyway.

What she needed was something with a bit more flare...

* * *

The thief slowly sneaked across the empty diamond store, almost too giddy with excitement to think straight. Nothing could dampen his good mood tonight. First, he had escaped from prison so well, that when he was well on his way to freedom, the prison still didn't know he was gone.

He blamed that on St. Canard's lack of security measures as of late, which was the second reason he was so happy. Since crime was virtually an endangered species these days, the city had gone lax in it's security measures, meaning that places where easier to break into now without getting caught. The city thought it was safe from that.

The thief chuckled at that thought, thus leading him into the third reason he was so happy. Since places were so easy to break into now, he could easily break into several places every night and start up the first crime wave in St. Canard in seven years. And with a good hideout, he could be virtually unstoppable for months on end until St. Canard whipped itself back into shape.

And he could have gotten all he wanted out of the place and be long gone by that point.

Giggling, he reached the store's vault where the most valuable jewels were being stored and began to pick the lock. Not surprisingly, it quickly popped open, and rejoicing, the thief began to shovel the priceless jewels into the sack he had snatched off of a grocery store down the street.

He suddenly froze when he heard a creaking noise from behind him. Whipping around, he looked for the cause. All he saw was the store's front door bouncing slightly in the wind. He had simply left it open when he forced his way in. Relaxing, he went back to what he was doing.

Then he heard a loud bang. Whipping around again, this time he saw a large cloud of billowing blue smoke spread outward from the middle of the room.

"I am the terror that flaps in the night."


	5. Megavolt's Visitor

I've been looking forward to this chapter, so, enjoy. ;)

Chapter Five

Megavolt's Visitor

When the diamond store's burglary alarms went off suddenly, the police rushed right to the scene, ready to take action. But when they got there, they were surprised to find the jewels very carefully placed back in their safe, and the thief-to-be tied up on the floor, out like a light.

Puzzled, the police examined the store from top to bottom for any clues as to what happened, but didn't get anywhere until the thief awoke while being escorted into a police car.

"It was Darkwing Duck!" he was exclaiming over and over again, clearly terrified of the mere mention of the name.

This bewildered the police, but the news crew that was just showing up on the site looked around wildly at the nearby surroundings of the store.

"There!" a cameraman exclaimed, directing his cam recorder towards the top of a building.

Soon everyone's attention was being directed towards the building's rooftop. There, stood a figure, caught in the shadow of a moonbeam, which looked very much like Darkwing Duck. Most were shocked at the presence of such a figure. Some cheered, happy that the superhero was back.

But all of them were too far away to see that the figure was, in fact, female...

* * *

Gosalyn looked down at the gathering crowd below, adjusting the purple hat placed on her head. She could see why Darkwing ate up all the publicity that he could get. It felt good to have it centered on you, thus making it fun. It was addicting too, for Gosalyn was very tempted to go down there and get twice as much publicity than she was getting right now.

But she knew she couldn't, for no one but her knew it was really herself behind the cape, mask, and hat, and getting that close to the cameras would reveal that the Darkwing they were seeing was a she, and not the he they knew seven years ago.

Plus, she still had a mission to do; find the clues explaining her adopted father's disappearance. Gosalyn hadn't even planned on apprehending any robberies but the break-in at the jewelry store had alerted her as she traveled around on the Ratcatcher and she decided that she simply couldn't ignore it. Stopping the thief was easier than she thought, though, and was something she could get used to.

Of course it helped that the thief passed out from shock immediately after she appeared before him.

But still...Gosalyn current problem was finding the clues that would hopefully lead her to her father, if she could find them, and the sooner she got started, the better. But she just couldn't leave without giving her watchers below her something to see. So she improvised something.

"I am the terror that flaps in the night!" Gosalyn shouted loudly, deepening her voice, pulling out Darkwing's smoke gun with the grappling hook attached to it. "I am the grapefruit that is _just_ a little too big for your knife to cut all the way in half! I am DARKWING DUCK!"

She fired the grappling hook and it latched onto a nearby skyscraper. Feeling the rope go taunt, Gosalyn launched herself off the roof and swung out into open space for a moment, hanging over the crowd below. Then the rope swung her sideways, surprising her, and flinging her around the building and out of sight.

As she let out more rope and softly touched ground again, she heard loud applause coming from the crowd that had watched her leave. Quickly recoiling the rope and grappling hook, Gosalyn hopped onto the Ratcatcher parked nearby and zoomed away, hoping she could leave before someone caught her driving. She knew how to drive, but, permission wise, all she had was her learner's permit, which she had left at home...

* * *

There are some nights in which you just can't sleep, and he knew that. The problem is that if you can't sleep when you're in jail, what else can you do?

Megavolt sighed, tapping the wall next to his bed, listening to the metal-like clang. There simply wasn't anything to _do._ He couldn't sleep, so that was out of the question. He couldn't eat, for no meals would be coming his way for several more hours. He had no books, because the pages produced a static charge which he could use to his advantage. There weren't any neighboring cells so he couldn't chat with anybody else except the guards, and there weren't any here.

He had nothing to do. What's a supervillain to do?

Megavolt supposed he could try and figure out a way to escape, but St. Canard had outdone itself. His cell was specifically designed to hold him and only him as prisoner. That meant it neutralized his powers and would not conduct, nor store, electricity. The only other source of electricity besides himself was the two flourescent lightbulbs, but they were behind their own shielding, designed to let the light through, but not the electric charge, so Megavolt couldn't access it.

He had some electric charge left in him still, but not enough to do anything with, except to make a few sparks for a couple moments. In theory he could stun somebody with it, but wisely, St. Canard sent anybody his way with protective gear to deflect any such attack. And the guards assigned to look after him kept away from his cell and stood at either end of the hallway, away from Megavolt's reach.

For once, Megavolt wished he was another supervillain, because then maybe he could get somewhere. All the other supervillains here in St. Canard's underground supervillain prison had electric fields of varying power outputs depending on the villain being held within blocking their way, in contrast to the classic cage-like bars on Megavolt's cell, made out of the same stuff as the rest of the cell so that he couldn't use his power.

He envied Quackerjack the most, because all he needed to escape was the right tools, the right equipment, and some time alone. Then he could build something that would get him out. Word was that the villain had already tried this several times, using stolen goods from varying parts of the prison, but had gotten caught every time. Megavolt knew he'd succeed one day though.

He did _not_ envy The Liquidator, who was trapped in a completely sealed cell, and the only way in or out was through the electric field, but the field was powerful enough that any water that touched it was evaporated on contact, which Megavolt remembered wasn't a state of matter that Liki liked to be in.

He didn't envy Bushroot either, because, like Liquidator, his electric field was set up to fry anything that was caught in it. In this cause plant matter. But St. Canard hadn't stopped there, they had set up the whole prison so to block Bushroot's telepathic ability with the plant kingdom. The only plants Bushroot could contact were any that might be within the prison, and St. Canard made it priority to make sure there were none twenty-four hours a day, everyday. To top it off, Bushroot was only given just enough sunlight and water to keep him alive, so that he was alive, but very weak.

And there were others, but the former members of the Fearsome Five were the only ones Megavolt really knew. But he knew the others were treated fairly poorly too.

To Megavolt, that was just cruel. In fact all of it was cruel, for all of the twenty or so cells in the fifty square foot prison were all the same way, adjusted only slightly for each specific needs. Needs to be kept in the cell, that is. They were kept separated from each other too, so that they almost never saw each other. Megavolt only knew what he did from hearing it in the gossip chain that the guards had started years ago.

He had heard that Darkwing Duck had voiced some discontent with some of the extremes the St. Canard supervillain prison took before he vanished, but the complaints fell on deaf ears, to Megavolt's dismay. He had a hunch, though, that Darkwing only voiced those opinions because he didn't want to face being out of a job. Megavolt, oddly enough, understood this, because a St. Canard without it's supervillains would be like keeping Darkwing in jail, only he was free to go if he wanted.

Sometimes Megavolt wondered if that was where Darkwing Duck had gone to. Elsewhere. He knew Darkwing, and knew that the odds of Darkwing surviving his fall into the St. Canard River were very good. So Megavolt was convinced that he was alive. He just wasn't here.

Then Megavolt pointed out to himself, that if that was true, then maybe that was the point of this prison in the first place. To force Darkwing away. The superhero always did cause more annoyance than cheer in St. Canard, causing Darkwing's popularity to be insanely low.

It was probably no coincidence that the crime-fighter's popularity only went up _after_ he vanished, for that matter.

Megavolt sighed, upset at the thought of Darkwing. He knew that, deep down, escaping and being free and going on with his usual supervillain work wouldn't be any fun without Darkwing trying to stop him every step of the way. His line of work kind of depended on that, because it gave a challenge to try and complete a job that is pretty much pointless to continue. Without Darkwing around, it the pointlessness of it became too clear, and would discourage him always.

A loud clang rang out, making Megavolt sit up. Someone was coming in. He poked his head out between the bars of the cell's door, and looked up and down the hallway. But it curved, so that you could not see the ends, where the doors were. Megavolt could hear voices, though, and footsteps, both of which were coming closer.

Finally, a security guard and a short figure in a brown cloak with the hood drawn to hide his face walked around the curve in the hallway coming in Megavolt's direction.

"You have a visitor, Megavolt." the guard announced calmly, halting just beside Megavolt's cell.

The visitor stepped onward and leaned against the far wall, staring right at Megavolt, giving him an eerie feeling.

"I would like to talk alone." the visitor growled.

The guard nodded, and walked off willingly. He knew there was nothing to worry about, for the visitor had been searched and had nothing that he could use to help Megavolt escape, or anything that Megavolt would want to use to escape, and if the visitor attempted to try and break Megavolt out, the guards would hear it.

The visitor did not speak again until the guard was well out of hearing range, then spoke softly so his voice wouldn't carry. "Hello Megavolt."

Megavolt eyed him oddly. "All of the friends I have are locked away in this jail with me or are gone." he said to his visitor, turning his back to him. "So you can't be any _good_ visitor for me."

"Actually, Megavolt, I am the perfect visitor for you."

Megavolt looked back at the mysterious figure. "You are?" he asked.

"I would hope so."

"How?"

"I'm here to help you."

Megavolt snorted. "Sure, help me repent of my dastardly deeds, no doubt. Forget it buster, I've heard that one before."

"No, Megavolt." the visitor interrupted. "I'm here to help you escape."

Megavolt was shocked, and for a moment thought he hadn't heard right.

"In fact, I'm going to help you and your friends all escape, but first I'm going to start with you." the visitor went on to say.

Megavolt gripped the bars. "Why me?"

"I need your abilities in order for this to work." the visitor explained, "Plus, you will the easiest."

"How so?"

"There is a flaw in the design of this prison, and your cell is in the perfect position to exploit it."

Megavolt eyed him, knowing there had to be a catch. "What kind of flaw?"

"A serious flaw, yet one that could be easily over looked. Naturally, it was."

"Why?" Megavolt asked, suspicious.

"I made sure of it."

Megavolt was shocked again, and wondered how this person did it. He decided to ask about it later though. "You mentioned that you need me." Megavolt said. "What do you need me to do?"

"Nothing to escape." the visitor assured Megavolt. "Leave that part to me. It's afterwards that I need you."

"Why, what's going to happen?"

"We are going to get something that will change the way things run in not only this town, but possibly the world too."

Megavolt was instantly against that. "I've never been a strong supporter of world domination." he said. "Usually, there would be nothing left to conquer in the end."

"True." the visitor admitted. "It's takes skill to do otherwise."

"And you have that skill?"

"Considering I've dominated a world before for a few years without flaw, I think so."

Megavolt was again suspicious. "What's in it for me?"

"The ability to do what you want, to go where you want, to see what you want, whatever. I won't stop you."

"That's quite an offer." Megavolt admitted. "There's got to be a catch."

"The only catch is that you stay out of my way once we play our cards right."

Megavolt eyed the visitor again, convinced there was something eerily odd about him. "Who are you?" he finally asked.

Even though his face was hidden, Megavolt saw him smile. Slowly, he pulled off the hood on his cloak, finally revealing his face to Megavolt.

Megavolt was shocked, not believing his eyes. "Darkwing Duck?" he asked, bewildered.

"Not quite."

From within his cloak, the visitor pulled out a hat and placed it on his head. It was exactly identical to Darkwing Duck's.

Except it was red.


	6. The Day After

Chapter Six

The Day After

Gosalyn listened to the gravel crunching under her feet as she walked back and forth along the far bank of the St. Canard River, looking it up and down. Up lead into the countryside. Down lead into the Audubon Bay. On the bank she was standing on was nothing more than a railroad facility, were cargo was loaded on to and off of trains. On the opposite bank was a long line of apartment complexes. Directly in front of her on that opposite bank was Megavolt's old hideout, now nothing more than a vacated building scheduled to be demolished next month.

The scene of the crime.

At least, that's what Gosalyn thought of it as, because this was were all of Darkwing's troubles began. She was here, hoping to find a clue about her dad's disappearance, but was turning up empty. Her best guess was that the clues were not permanent and had gotten swept away over the years, or they did not start until further downstream, most likely somewhere in or next to the Audubon Bay itself.

The problem was that was far too much ground for Gosalyn to cover in one night. It'd take months to search it all. What she needed was a clue to tell her where to start searching, thus narrow down the places to look. The issue that brought up was that she was running out of places to look for clues.

Straightening up and replacing Darkwing's magnifying glass back in it's pocket inside her suit, Gosalyn looked up at the sky. The sun was just starting to rise, indicating the start of a new day. She had been up all night, and she was starting to feel it. Probably time to go home and get some shut eye.

Only she couldn't get that shut eye because today was a school day, and she completely spaced it! Alarmed now, Gosalyn hopped back onto the Ratcatcher parked nearby and drove off for Darkwing Tower. She had to get back home before Launchpad discovered she was missing, and he was bound to get up any minute now.

Time was of the essence. Pushing all the speed she could out of the Ratcatcher, she drove the vehicle back across town and into the Tower, hopped off the bike before it had come to a complete stop, stripped off Darkwing's suit, cape, and hat, going down the night clothes she wore underneath the suit, leaving them all lying on the floor, hopped into one of the blue armchairs, and hit the trigger to activate it.

It spun violently, and Gosalyn left the Tower, and with another violent spin, arrived back home.

Gosalyn held her breath, worried that Launchpad might have heard her arrival. But after anxiously waiting several moments, sitting still in the beam of sunlight pouring in through the front window, silence ruled the room. Gosalyn finally let out her breath, but knew she wasn't in the clear yet.

Cautiously, she tip-toed upstairs. she heard movement behind the closed bathroom door, telling her that Launchpad was indeed up, and would probably be looking in on Gosalyn soon. She snuck past the door, and slipped into her bedroom, relieved that she had pulled off the whole task.

The tiredness of having spent the whole night out on the streets of St. Canard driving around at high speeds in a purple cape and mask finally catching up with her, Gosalyn wearily made her way towards her bed, picking up the book she had left there on her pillow yesterday evening while doing her homework.

But before she could complete the task, her bedroom door opened and Launchpad poked his head inside.

"You're up already?" he asked, surprised.

"Just putting my homework away." Gosalyn explained, sleepily, slipping the book into her backpack.

"Oh, okay." Launchpad said, missing or not mentioning how tired Gosalyn must have looked, and left.

Gosalyn got dressed, knowing there was no chance of her sleeping now, and sometime later went downstairs to join Launchpad in the breakfast he had prepared. It was eggs and toast, Launchpad's favorite. Gosalyn sat down at picked at it, too tired to bring the fork to her beak, and instead stared across the table at Launchpad vacantly.

He was reading the newspaper, occasionally reaching around it with a fork to stab a piece egg to eat. His face was hidden behind it, but a picture on the front page was conveniently placed exactly where Launchpad's face would be. It took Gosalyn a few moments to realize just what the picture was of.

Herself.

Only that part wasn't clear. The face was all in shadow. But the face was on a figure with a cape and a hat standing on a roof. There couldn't be any doubt that it was Gosalyn. Interested, Gosalyn eyed the rest of the front page. The headline read; "_The Terror That Flaps In the Night Returns?_"

The article that followed very briefly covered the story of the attempted theft of the jewels last night and the thief's point of view of Gosalyn stopping him (which, Gosalyn noted, was greatly exaggerated.) The rest of the article discussed whether or not the person claiming to be Darkwing Duck was really Darkwing Duck. Apparently, the popular belief was that it wasn't Darkwing, and Gosalyn worried if that was because someone had seen through her disguise.

Yet everyone was sure that the Darkwing Duck they saw last night was very much a he, telling Gosalyn that her secret, for now, was safe. She found that the reasons everyone thought the Darkwing seen last night was the fake were all due to made up reasons probably best explained by bad memory or bad views. Apparently Gosalyn had been seen riding the Ratcatcher, and everyone who caught glimpse of that agreed that the motorbike didn't look genuine, which Gosalyn found slightly humorous.

The humor didn't last though, because she did notice that, even though only she could see it because she knew to look for it, her pigtails showed on the front page picture, and reminded herself that next time she does something like that, to tuck the pigtails under the hat, _if_ she does that again.

Gosalyn glanced up at the tuft of red hair that poked out from over top of the newspaper, and she wondered if Launchpad had seen the article yet. There was an easy way to find out.

"So, anything interesting in the news?" Gosalyn asked, trying to sound inconspicuous.

"Yeah, they're making a _Pelican's Island _movie." Launchpad answered from behind the paper.

No, he hadn't seen the article yet. "Haven't seen the front age yet, huh?" Gosalyn asked Launchpad next.

"Nope." the pilot answered. "I like to save that for last."

Gosalyn grinned, gathering up her dishes and placing them in the kitchen sink and heading for the stairs.

"Look at the front page Launchpad." she stated as she left.

She caught a glimpse of Launchpad obeying just as she exited the room, and wasn't halfway up the stairs before she heard Launchpad cry out in surprise and glee. Gosalyn had to feel happy for him, even though that the Darkwing Duck he was seeing wasn't the one he wanted to see. She wanted to tell the pilot all about the mysterious letter and her late night escapade, but held off, remembering Darkwing's request to keep that secret between the two of them, and until that changed, she was going to keep it that way.

Back in her bedroom, she fought off sleep as she tied her shoes and gathered up the remaining things she needed for school and slipped them into her backpack and pulled it's straps over her shoulders. It felt heavier than usual, and Gosalyn suspected it was due to her lack of sleep. She hoped that there would be another boring lesson in math class today; she could sleep then.

Calmly, she marched back downstairs. It felt odd, to have just gotten back into the superhero business for the first time in seven years, and yet here she was, acting like it was your average day.

"Gosalyn!" Launchpad exclaimed when he saw her coming. "Darkwing's back! I'm going to bake a cake, and then we can celebrate!"

Well, semi-average.

Gosalyn was going to voice her discontent about the cake when the doorbell rang. Opening the door, she saw Honker standing on their front porch, ready for their traditional walk to school together.

"Have you seen the paper today Gosalyn?" he asked, holding up an extra copy. "They're saying Darkwing's back!"

"Launchpad, it's Honker, we're leaving, see you later!" Gosalyn shouted towards the kitchen, then left, closing the door behind her without waiting for a response. "Yeah, I've seen it, Honk." she went on to say. "Launchpad's acting like Christmas and his birthday both came early."

"Well, I wouldn't celebrate just yet." Honker discouraged as they set off for school. "I think they're right, and it really isn't the real Darkwing."

"Oh?" Gosalyn asked, trying to sound interested. She made sure Honker wasn't watching, then closed her eyes, dozing as she walked.

"Uh-huh, I've been doing some calculations, and I realized that there are several things wrong with the figure pictured in the paper." Honker said, pulling out a sheet covered with calculations and looking it over. "For one thing, this Darkwing is too tall. He's more around your height, Gos. In fact, I'd say exactly your height."

"Huh, that's funny." Gosalyn said, feigning a weak laugh. "Still, it could be anyone on that paper." but then she worried about how much Honker had figured out from just studying that picture, and knew if anyone could figure out who was really pictured on that paper he could, and proof of that was the time he managed to prove who had eaten the last popsicle in the freezer mathematically. So she added, "Uh, right?"

"Right." Honker confirmed to Gosalyn's relief. "Still, even if it's not the real Darkwing, it'd be nice to have one around again, don't you think?"

"Sure." Gosalyn said, yawning.

Honker looked at her oddly. "Gosalyn, aren't you happy about all of this, or at least excited?" he asked, looking curious, and slightly suspicious.

That worried Gosalyn. "Of course I am." she said quickly. "It's just that I'm really, really, tired and..."

"You are?" Honker asked, sounding surprised at this.

"Yeah, uh, I couldn't sleep." Gosalyn quickly covered.

Honker said nothing, but eyed Gosalyn for a long time. He suspects, Gosalyn thought to herself.

But that was all forgotten when they reached school, where news of Darkwing's alleged return was spreading like wildfire. Everybody, including the teachers, were gossiping about it. Some of them thought it was like a dream come true, but most, like Honker, suspected something wasn't right about it all. But Gosalyn realized that if this popularity kept up, Darkwing Duck, as a icon, was going to reach all-time highs in support very soon.

The discussion on the subject didn't end once school started either. Gosalyn's first period of the day was current events, and in that they discussed the article concerning Darkwing's return. The next period of the day was math, and even then, with the teacher being a no-nonsense, let's focus on math, kind of teacher, Darkwing was discussed in secret by all of the students.

Minus Gosalyn. Instead, she laid her math book out on her desk in front of her like she was reading it, and held her head in her hands, staring downward at the pages. She hoped that from a distance, the effect would cause her to look like she was following along with the lesson, but she had really dozed off, and was dreaming, of all things, about Honker using the number of popsicles in his freezer to figure out who the Darkwing portrayed on a blown-up copy of the newspaper really was and began confronting Gosalyn about the matter, seeming very angry.

Then Negaduck, for some reason, walked in and began doing a jig while jugging ten of Quackerjack's wind-up teeth at the same time.

Just as things began to get interesting, and Gosalyn swoops down in full costume to save the world from this cheesy act...

"Miss Mallard!" the math teacher shouted for the third time, "Are you paying attention?"

"Huh? What?" Gosalyn exclaimed, instantly aroused.

"_Are you paying attention?_" the teacher repeated, looking ready to explode.

"Uh, sure!" Gosalyn said, then added, "What were we talking about again?"

The class chuckled while the teacher silently fumed for a moment before picking on another student for drawing on his desk. Relieved that was over, Gosalyn began to settle in to sleep some more, this time in a different position, when something caught her eye, outside a nearby window. She looked up, and had to cover her beak to stifle the yelp that nearly escaped her.

The Flashquack was right outside the window, and was trying to get in to reach, it seemed, Gosalyn.

Gosalyn panicked for a moment, wondering what she was going to do, and why, of all people, was the Flashquack was coming after _her, _right_ now_. Had her dad modified it to come after her before he vanished, or did the Flashquack, upon not finding Darkwing himself, decide that Gosalyn was the next best candidate? If so, why her over possibly a dozen other people? Forcing herself to be calm, a plan of action for the moment in her mind, Gosalyn raised her hand.

"Yes, Miss Mallard?" the teacher asked, sounding exasperated.

"Can I go use the restroom?" she asked, trying to sound calm.

"_May_ I go use the restroom." the teacher corrected, before sighing and adding, "yes, but be quick."

Gosalyn needed no second bidding, and raced out of the room and down the hall into the girl's bathroom. Like she had hoped, the miniaturized and automated model of the Thunderquack followed, and was patiently waiting outside the narrow window in the room. Checking to make sure the room was empty first, Gosalyn opened the window a crack, and the Flashquack squeezed inside, zipped around Gosalyn, then came to hover next to her, it's top popping open to reveal a rolled up piece of paper.

Gosalyn pulled it out, and the Flashquack left, squeezing back out the window. Unraveling it, she read it. Like she had feared, the message was from SHUSH, the only ones that she knew of that had a Flashquack. The message read:

"_If you are reading this Darkwing Duck,_ _then please contact me as soon as possible._

_-J. Gander Hooter"_

Gosalyn gulped, knowing what this meant. SHUSH was hoping that the real Darkwing really was back, and wanted to put him to work. But that was him, not Gosalyn, and there was the problem. If she didn't respond to J. Gander's request, SHUSH will assume that the Darkwing in the papers is a fake, and will investigate. But SHUSH would _know_ that the Darkwing shown in the papers is a fake if she did contact them.

It was a no-win scenario.


	7. Megavolt's Escape

This chapt is a bit shorter than usual, but there really wasn't all that much happening here, and I wanted to save other stuff till next chapt. ;)

Chapter Seven

Megavolt's Escape

All was quiet at the St. Canard supervillain prison. But it wasn't going to last.

Megavolt was stretched out on his bed, dozing. He was grinning for the first time in what felt like years. In fact, it probably was. He wasn't going to complain. He didn't even need to worry about the guards, who were giving Megavolt's smile odd glances every time they came by to check up on him.

Megavolt didn't care. Negaduck had assured him that this escape would be Megavolt's finest, and would probably leave the police reeling for several hours.

However, Negaduck said that was only the beginning. Once they got the ball rolling, Negaduck said they would get the others out of jail in such a fashion that it'll leave the police baffled for months on end. And by then, it'd be too late.

Megavolt felt nothing could keep his happiness down. The Fearsome Five were going to get back together, and then it'll be just like old times. Even though he'd have to deal with a boss who is short-tempered, trigger happy, purely evil, wears annoyingly colored clothing, unwilling to accept failure, and more ready shoot first and ask questions...well...never, plus not having Darkwing Duck around anymore, Megavolt felt for the first time since he had been locked up in here that his life had a purpose.

He wished he could get word of it all to the others, but the prison security made it impossible, plus there wasn't much to tell. Negaduck was keeping his grand scheme secret for now. He said that he wanted it to be a surprise. And Negaduck was well known for his surprises.

However, Megavolt wasn't surprised to hear the first sounds of the escape begin. A soft tapping sound being emitted from under the bed.

Negaduck had told him to act casual on his bed, and while he never said why this needed to be done, Megavolt assumed that the bed played a factor into the escape. The tapping eventually grew louder, and pretty soon, the vibrations of whatever tool Negaduck was using to break in could be felt.

Finally, there was a soft popping sound as Negaduck's tool broke through the floor and gently tapped the underside of the bed's mattress. The tool continued to tap at the mattress, spelling out a message in morse code.

_You ready?_

Megavolt curled his fingers into a fist and softly tapped a response on the metal-like wall beside him.

_Yes. Act as you need to._

Negaduck tapped out a new message.

_Sweep any debris that pops out from under the bed back under, so it won't be seen._

Megavolt responded, then shifted his position on the bed so that he could still look like nothing was happening, but could watch for any debris. Negaduck continued his work, using his unknown tool to make a hole large enough for Megavolt to slip through. Another pop rang out, and this time, a piece of the anti-electric material the cell was made of tumbled out into the middle of the floor. Megavolt promptly swept it back under the bed.

The process continued on for several more moments, and finally, about a half-hour later, Negaduck tapped out a new message.

_This is about ready to give out. Be on your guard._

Megavolt answered with a simply yes, then waited anxiously. Another pop rang out, followed by the distinct sound of crumbling. Not long after that, another pop rang out. This was the last one. A loud crumbling could be heard, then with a earth shattering crash, a portion of floor under the bed gave way.

The sound echoed down the hallway outside the barred entrance of the cell. Footsteps echoed back as the guards ran to investigate the sound. Megavolt quickly tapped out the following:

_SOS._

It was not meant to be used as a call for help, but rather as a warning for Negaduck that someone was coming and to stop momentarily. He immediately did, but Megavolt also assumed that was because he had done his part for the moment.

The guards arrived outside the cell, their hands on their holsters in case they needed their sidearms. They looked around. All they saw was Megavolt stretched out leisurely on his bed, looking completely calm in a quiet cell in seemingly mint condition. The guards looked over the room one more time, then looked at one another. They raced further down the hallway, undoubtedly to check on the other cells.

Calmly, Megavolt began tapping again.

_All clear for the moment._

_Explain._

_They went to check the other cells._

_Wait until they return to their posts. Then act._

Megavolt leaned back on his bed and waited. The check took longer than he expected, and a good fifteen minutes later, the guards walked idly by on their way back to their assigned posts, giving Megavolt's cell another looking over. Again, they found nothing, and they left. Megavolt waited another second before tapping out:

_They're gone._

_Then let's go._

Megavolt didn't bother to respond. He quickly stood and ran up to the front of the cell and double checked the hallway for life. There was none. Megavolt returned to his bed and swung his legs under it. He felt his feet drop into emptiness, and he let his legs slid into it, pushing himself after them.

Finally he dropped into a long and dark tunnel, with pools of water gathered on it's bottom. It looked like a huge pipe. Leaning against one the curved walls was Negaduck himself, fully dressed in the color-clashing costume Megavolt knew so well. He was busy filing his nails.

"Well, hello Megavolt." he said idly, like their meeting was completely unplanned. "Nice of you to drop in."

"Literally." Megavolt answered, looking back up at the hole he had just escaped through. The bed completely covered it. It would be awhile before the police notice it. Excitement began to flow again, and Megavolt's happiness soared. He wanted to hug Negaduck and thank him for his help thus far, but knew that the villain wouldn't react well to either and held off.

"Well, we've got places to be, world's to conquer, all of that usual stuff." Negaduck announced, finishing with his nails and calmly marching down the tunnel, pulling out a flashlight.

Megavolt followed, giving the tunnel a good looking over. He didn't recognize it. "Where are we?" he asked.

"Under the prison, duh." Negaduck answered. "As for the tunnel, it's a old waterway that's no longer in use. It fills as the tide rises. Right now we're at low tide, so we have nothing to worry about."

Megavolt continued to study the damp stonework of the tunnel. "I can see what you mean about this being a 'serious flaw, yet one that could be easily overlooked.' But I can't believe, that after all that effort to make that prison the most secure prison in all of St. Canard, that they miss something like _this._"

"Well, at first they didn't." Negaduck admitted. "In the original plans, they wanted to fill this sucker up, plug it up from intruders from getting under the prison and drilling their way in, or vise versa."

"What changed those plans?"

"Well, conveniently for us, someone erased that portion off the blue prints and no one caught it. Thus, it was never done."

Megavolt didn't need to ask who that was.

"So what's the plan, Negs?" Megavolt asked next. "How are you going to pull off taking over the world?"

Negaduck chuckled. "You'll find out in due time." he said.

"Oh c'mon, I can't really help you if I don't know the plan." Megavolt pointed out.

"I'll tell it to you as we go along." Negaduck promised. "In the mean time, don't get you're supervillain costume tied into a...oh, that reminds me." he reached into his cape a pulled out a loose bundle of cloth. "Present for you Megs."

Megavolt took it and studied it. He realized it was his old costume.

"Pulled that out of the police office on my way here." Negaduck explained. "Since they thought you weren't going anywhere anytime soon, they didn't bother to guard it, the knobs..."

Megavolt slipped on his boots, gloves, hat, and safety goggles from his costume for now, tucking the rest under one arm. "So where _have_ you been, Negs?" Megavolt asked, curious. "I thought you were long gone, like Darkwing."

"Nah, I've always been around." Negaduck said. "Just been laying low. I don't get these take-over-the-world ideas overnight you know. No, I've just been going around, getting things ready, and checking to make sure the timing's right, waiting for my chance. It helped that Dipwing Dork chose that time, of all times, to just randomly vanish."

Megavolt assumed that meant that Negaduck didn't know were Darkwing was himself, which was his next question. Skipping over it, he asked the next one in line.

"So what do we need me for?" he asked.

"Various things." Negaduck answered. "Zapping, arch-welding, zapping, overloading circuitry, zapping, hot-wiring alarm systems, zapping...the usual stuff, really."

They had reached the end of the tunnel, and they clambered out of it onto the dark and abandoned street behind it.

"So, what do we do first?" Megavolt asked.

"Well, first, we'll go to the old hideout so you can properly change." Negaduck said. "After that, well, we need funding for a thing or two, so stopping at a few banks is in order."

They clambered onto Negaduck's motorbike, a near clone of Darkwing's own, only it was yellow, black, and red in color, and much more menacing in appearance.

"One last thing, Negs." Megavolt said, as Negaduck revved the engine. "I notice you're being unusually nice to me."

Negaduck grinned as they sped off into the night. "I'm generally in a nicer mood when I'm getting what I want." he said.


	8. SHUSH Contacts

Chapter Eight

SHUSH Contacts

Gosalyn paced back and forth in her bedroom. If Drake saw her doing this, he'd probably say something about stopping before she wore a hole into the floor, a hole he'd have to mend. Only he wasn't here, so there was nothing to stop Gosalyn from pacing. Once, she wanted to see if it was actually possible to pace a hole into a floor, but physical needs brought the experiment to an abrupt end. Namely eating, drinking, and her legs getting very tired.

In this case, she was pacing because she was thinking, probably too hard too. It was a mere choice that faced her, but she couldn't just _choose._ She knew there was possible outcomes of either choice that would not be to her benefit, and that worried her greatly. The issue was very delicate, enough that she had to choose carefully, or the whole thing would cave in on her.

The issue at hand, was the one concerning SHUSH, and Gosalyn knew the longer she took to make her choice, the sooner the choice would be made for her, and probably not for the best. She knew that if she did not contact SHUSH, they would automatically assume that the Darkwing shown in the papers was a fake.

Then, they would undoubtably investigate further into the matter, and thus risking interfering with Gosalyn's own plans and possibly getting herself into huge trouble. Then her cover would be blown to Launchpad "for her own safety," as SHUSH would undoubtably put it, and likely would force her to stop filling in Darkwing's shoes, no matter what the reason for it might be.

Despite all of that, it was the choice Gosalyn was leaning the most towards, because she knew it was going to be awhile before SHUSH got far enough into the investigation to start pinpointing her movements as Darkwing. Thus buying her time to finish what she had started and then hopefully, she could hang up the cape, or in the best case scenario give it back to the duck it belonged to, and then not have to worry about it anymore.

But SHUSH was no amateur business, and predicting all of their moves in the matter would be difficult. It was possible that she would be greatly underestimating the organization by making that choice for those reasons, and get herself caught by them the same night. But that brought up another point. Suppose SHUSH doesn't do anything against her? Suppose they only do the investigation to fulfill their own curiosity, and once that's done, step out of Gosalyn's way.

In Gosalyn's opinion though, that chances of that were rare, unless she went with choice number two. Contact SHUSH and reveal to them, that the Darkwing in the papers, is, beyond a doubt, a fake. Gosalyn didn't want to have to make that choice, because there would be no way to hide her sex and age, both of which conflicted with the real Darkwing's. She also knew that J. Gander Hooter would not react well to the news.

But that lead to the ups of the choice. Do it that way, and then she could discuss with Hooter _himself_ her reasons for doing this and possibly work out a compromise. And she would be able to confirm what SHUSH's action in response and be able to adjust accordingly. And seeing that SHUSH never revealed their insights into Darkwing's disappearance, it was possible that they might have some clues that Gosalyn sure didn't. They might be able to help.

But then again, they might not. SHUSH might deny Gosalyn rights to continue what she's doing and do whatever might be needed to make sure it stays that way. They might continue what Gosalyn started and do it while leaving her out of the loop, or worse, botch the whole thing up making it impossible of having any hope of finding out the explanation to Darkwing's disappearance.

There were huge risks either way, and Gosalyn hated it. No matter what choice she made, she'd be taking an unwanted risk, a big one at that. She wished there was a third choice, but of course, there wasn't, and there was little hope of ever getting one.

Gosalyn forced herself to stop pacing and to make a choice now. She ended up flipping a coin to do it, but she made a choice. She didn't like it, but fate had chose it for her, should she really deny it?

Quietly, she snuck out of her bedroom and tiptoed downstairs. Launchpad was sprawled out on the couch, sound asleep, the tale end of a movie playing on the TV. The pilot had stayed there all day, hoping that Darkwing would pop up, safe, and with a good explanation as to why he had been gone all these years. Little did he know that he already knew the location of the Darkwing he was waiting for.

When Launchpad was asleep, not much could wake him up again, but Gosalyn wasn't going to take any chances. Quietly, she snuck into the kitchen and pulled out some earplugs, which she stuffed into Launchpad's ears. Then, for added comfort, she placed some earmuffs onto Launchpad's head.

Checking one last time that he was really in a deep sleep, Gosalyn slipped past him and closed the living room curtains, then gently sat herself into one of the two armchairs on the far side of the room. Taking a deep breath, she brought her fist down on the figurine sitting on the table between the two chairs.

The chairs spun rapidly, and a wild ride later, Gosalyn found herself some distance away from home in Darkwing Tower, gagging on the cloud of dust that had been kicked up. waving a hand to clear the dust, she raced over to the dresser and opened it's drawers, pulling out the Darkwing Duck costume within and slipping it on over her usual clothes.

She debated for a moment as to whether or not to tuck her pigtails under the purple hat as she placed it on her head, but then decided it didn't matter for this. Looking into a mirror and being satisfied with her appearance, she crossed the room and climbed a ladder to where a large amount of computers, screens, and consoles were, all covered in plastic sheets.

Gosalyn pulled them off, booting up the equipment underneath, realizing just how long it really had been since Darkwing's disappearance. Most of the technology was far out of date, and could be easily replaced with far more efficient stuff that took up half the space.

The equipment ran a self-diagnostic, then reported it was in perfect working order. This pleased Gosalyn, but she knew no that she'd have no excuse in backing out now. She lifted one finger and brought it to hover over a button simply labeled "SHUSH."

It wasn't too late, Gosalyn's mind told her. You can still back out of this. All you have to do is turn off all of this equipment and leave. You don't even need to look back.

No, Gosalyn retorted back. I need to do this, like it or not, no matter what the consequences. I may live to regret this choice, or i may not. The only way to find out is to just _do it._

She pushed the button.

The screen before her instantly came to life. SHUSH's logo appeared on it while the right connections were being made. It took much longer than Gosalyn remembered it taking. She wondered if it had to do with the fact that the equipment she was using hadn't been used in so long, or that SHUSH's undoubtably newer and faster equipment were gumming up the process, or that she was simply imagining things.

Finally, J. Gander's face appeared on the screen. He didn't look a thing different from what Gosalyn remembered of him. He looked no older, no taller or shorter, any more or less stern or serious, which was always questionable with J. Gander. He was a very nice, understanding person. It was that trait that Gosalyn was counting on.

The only thing most obviously different was that his grey feathers had turned a shade of silver, a sure sign of old age. Gosalyn wondered just how old the director was, and if he was close to retirement. She also wondered that it he was close to retirement, was it a planned retirement, or a forced one, and was he looking forward to it?

These questions unanswered, she looked at J. Gander silently, waiting for him to speak first. It had looked like he was going to speak right at first, for he opened his beak, but then he realized who was before them, and trailed off before he began. A long and uncomfortable period of silence followed, one Gosalyn did not like at all. She wished she knew what Director Hooter was thinking, but his face was very neutral, revealing nothing for the moment.

Finally, J. Gander spoke. "You're not Darkwing." he stated simply.

"Yes, I'm not." Gosalyn answered. She was going to go on, but Hooter cut her off.

"Where are you?" Hooter asked.

"Somewhere in the depths of St. Canard." Gosalyn answered. "You're not trying to track me, are you?"

Hooter didn't answer that. "Who are you?" he demanded next.

"A kind of substitute to Darkwing Duck, I suppose." Gosalyn answered. "A temporary one, I hope."

"Temporary?" Hooter asked.

"Yeah, I've found clues that might lead me to Darkwing-"

"Who are you?"

"I've just told you who I am!"

"No, who you really are!"

"Darkwing didn't ever tell you that!" Gosalyn objected. "Did he?"

"No."

"Then why do I have to tell you?"

"Because you must be sixteen or younger!"

"Sixteen, I am sixteen. Will be seventeen later this month."

"That's far too young for you to be doing something like this!"

"Says you."

Hooter trailed off for a moment, staring hard at Gosalyn. "You look familiar." he said.

Gosalyn suddenly remembered, too late, that Hooter had seen glimpses of her when she was younger, perhaps more. "We've met." Gosalyn admitted. "That's beside the point though. Anyway, as for why I'm doing this, I've found clues that might..."

"Yes, yes, I know, you found clues that seem to lead to the explanation to Darkwing's disappearance." Hooter said, waving aside the explanation. "So has SHUSH, and let me assure you, it hasn't lead us anywhere. Only Darkwing himself could explain his disappearance."

"That's just it, these clues were left by..."

"How do did you get this number?" Hooter demanded, again cutting her off.

"I'm at Darkwing's hideout, he had ties with you guys."

"Do you have security clearance?"

"Yes, I do, and I can prove it!" Gosalyn said, hoping that Hooter didn't ask to see it, because she didn't have it on hand. But she did have clearance. Her ties with Darkwing had demanded it.

"We're going to have change the security codes." Hooter was muttering now. "Put all communications under a lock down until we can determine the extent of the security leak..."

"There's no leak! Your security's safe!" Gosalyn assured him.

"How did you find Darkwing's hideout?" Hooter asked. "SHUSH has been searching for it for years, and has yet to track it."

"I-I've always known where it was." Gosalyn answered, choosing her words carefully.

"So where is it?"

"I can't tell you."

"I order you to!"

"_I can't tell you! _Darkwing requested that it be kept safe!"

"You knew Darkwing?"

"W-we were close, yes." Gosalyn admitted reluctantly.

"How close?" Hooter asked. "You aren't that little girl that followed him around everywhere, are you?"

"Um...well..." Gosalyn began, and that was information enough for Hooter.

"You shouldn't be doing this, and I want you to stop, right now." he leaned forward, with a large prominent frown. "And don't think you can get away with it. We have ways of tracking the actions of people anywhere in the world, Gosalyn Mallard."

Oh great, he knows who I am. Goslayn thought, dismayed. Somehow she wasn't surprised. SHUSH had known she sometimes tagged along on Darkwing's special missions for the organization and sometimes even helped save the day. It seemed only natural that they figure out who that was. Why they never said anything about it until now was a mystery, but Gosalyn didn't like what all of that implied for her now.

"You are going to blow my cover, aren't you, just to make sure that I obey?" Gosalyn asked.

"This time I'm merely giving you a warning." Hooter said. "Stay out of this. You are simply too young, and not ready, even though you did help Darkwing seven years ago on his missions. I will not allow you're life to needlessly be on the line on accounts such as this. Refuse to comply, and I _will_ be forced to take action."

"You have changed!" Gosalyn blurted out. "The Hooter I knew would be more understanding and would at least hear me out!" the transmission was suddenly cut off, but Gosalyn ranted on. "But no! You're a dictator now! Refuse good help even when you know you need it! You're nothing more than a...a..."

She slapped the control panel in front of her and flopped into a nearby chair. "Well, that was unproductive." she grumbled. "Now what do I do?"

Her mind was saying there was only one thing to do. Stop this superhero stuff now, or Hooter would make good of his threat, no doubt about it. It probably wasn't worth it after all. You weren't getting anywhere, and you had your doubts of even starting in the first place. This merely added to them.

But the possibilities, Gosalyn retorted with herself. I could have figured out where Dad went and has been after all these years, and, more importantly, if he's still alive. I can't just give up on that!

Can I?

At that moment, the screen reactivated to show a map of St. Canard, with a flashing dot blinking on a major bank. Someone was in the process of robbing, or had robbed, that bank. Something that hadn't happened in St. Canard for awhile, and would be a bit of an odd event. Probably something worth checking out.

Gosalyn grinned defiantly. SHUSH or not, it wouldn't hurt to check it out...


	9. The Robbery

Sorry, I haven't posted in awhile, but with the school year starting again, my schedule's gone all AWOL. But I'll still post as often as I can. :)

Chapter Nine

The Robbery

Several things were running through Gosalyn's mind as she rode the Ratcatcher to the robbed bank in question. One, was the thought of fear, more of what might be there robbing the bank in the process of leaving the bank having robbed it than anything else, but she also feared SHUSH, knowing that if they caught her doing this, Hooter would keep his word and take action to make sure Gosalyn obeyed his orders.

Second was sheer doubt that she could do this. Despite the fact that she probably had experience enough for something as trivial as a bank robbery, her mind still found holes in that experience, convincing itself that because of those holes where there, Gosalyn would be unable to do this and it would be a mistake to attempt to. She tried to ignore these thoughts, but part of her knew that she couldn't deny that they might be right.

Third was excitement, something that slightly surprised Gosalyn. Just two days before this, she couldn't have even imagined herself doing this, and yet, now, here she was doing it all willingly and feeling excited about it at the same time. She found herself wanting some way to deny it, to fight it off, to avoid that sensation, but failed every time.

And she knew why. Doing this kind of thing was second nature to her. In fact, it was almost to be expected of her, and by golly, she wasn't going to do anything to change that. Not like she could anyway, but that was beside the point.

Gosalyn arrived at the bank, to find it oddly vacant, not to mention silent. This relieved her slightly, because that indicated that the robber had come and gone already. This meant that she wouldn't have a need to fight anybody, or at least that was the hope.

It was dark inside the bank. Apparently the robber had made that way, possibly to take the guards by surprise. Feeling along the dimly lit walls, Gosalyn found a light switch and flipped it. She was rewarded with the room getting filled with light, as well as the evidence that indicated what the robber had done.

A group of guards sat on the floor, all bond together and unconscious, and they showed no signs of waking up anytime soon. The robber had clearly knocked them out, but exactly how puzzled Gosalyn. So far as she could tell, there wasn't any physical damage done to them. They were simply unconscious. What interested her more though, was what was behind the guards. Scorched paint.

Reaching into one of the many pockets on Darkwing's suit, Gosalyn pulled out a magnifying glass, examining the scorching. She didn't find much, other than the fact that the scorching had a kind of pattern to it. Gosalyn had no clue what that meant, however, and if it was of any importance. But she knew Darkwing would've logged it away for further consideration, so she did the same.

Running against the far wall were the teller's desks, all joined together with iron grates marking where each one began or ended. Wandering over there, Gosalyn was not surprised to not find any tellers there. It was after hours. But she found that the wall behind these desks was all torn up with bullet holes. Judging from how close together they were, Gosalyn guessed that the bullets were shot from a machine gun, obviously belonging to the robber.

It appeared that the robber only fired off the gun to scare off guards though, for the holes were much too high to have been shot at a living target. This theory was further supported when she found another group of guards all tied up and unconscious, again with no apparent physical harm done to them, just like the other group of guards.

Furthermore, they were all tied up under the bullet holes, already implying what she had already suspected. The machine gun was used only to scare. It wasn't intended to hurt anybody, or at least, that was how it seemed.

Gosalyn decided to check out the vault next. First, she scanned over the vault door with the magnifying glass. She found scorching similar to the scorching on the wall. She suspected that the robber had used some kind of arch welder to break into the vault. But if that was true, why use it on the wall? Was it part of some kind of failed escape attempt, or some false clue, designed to throw her, or the police, off?

The inside of the vault was empty, not a drop of money left. this did not surprise Gosalyn, the robber was very efficient everywhere else in the robbery, why would he, or she, be sloppy getting the money?

Gosalyn stopped to decide what to do next. It felt like she hadn't done something. Something that was very important. Fingerprints! Right, she had forgotten to look for fingerprints. Immediately, she scanned the walls and tables for fingerprints. But all she found where her own and ones that were supposed to be there. Another factor in the crime that the robber had covered.

So a no go on the fingerprints. But what about footprints? Couldn't that be used to track down a criminal? Bending over, she ran her magnifying glass around on the floor. She found lots of footprints, but how was she going to remember them all?

She remembered a lesson at school that stated that you could get copies of fingerprints using scotch tape. The same should apply here, but she would need some bigger version of tape in order to get whole footprints. She felt around in her pockets, hoping Darkwing had something she could use. She was not disappointed.

She found large plastic sheets tucked away in one pocket, with one side sticky like scotch tape, big enough to cover an entire footprint. Gosalyn quickly put them to use. She wasn't too satisfied with how well the sheets got copies of footprints, but it did the job, and she got a copy of every footprint.

She had just gotten the last one and was tucking it's sheet away when she heard a large crowd of people entered the bank. It was the police, and, not surprisingly, the many reporters and news teams, having fought their way in. It was impossible to not see Gosalyn, and quickly the reporters turned their attention to her, thinking she was Darkwing Duck.

Not wanting to stick around, knowing that her cover would be blown if the reporters got a good look at her, she reacted quickly, pulling Darkwing's smoke gun with the grappling hook attached to it. Pointing it straight up, she fired it and it latched onto the ledge surrounding a skylight.

Thumbing the recoil control on the gun, she was jerked upward as the rope attached to the grappling hook was being gathered up by the gun. Cameras began to flash, but Gosalyn was confident that she had managed to avoid the worse of the damage for the moment. She reached the ledge and swung herself onto it. Finding a panel of glass in the sunroof that could open, she slid it open and escaped out onto the bank's roof.

Closing the panel behind her, she raced across the roof to a back alley, where she had parked the Ratcatcher. Launching herself off the roof, she fell downwards towards it. Just as the momentum of her free fall started to pick up, she fired off the grappling hook again, using it and it's rope to slow her fall, so that she gently landed on the Ratcatcher's seat.

Recoiling the rope once more, Gosalyn set off into the night, fully aware how close that had been. She had really pressed her luck with the last good photo she had allowed the press to get of her while posing as Darkwing Duck, she didn't need another. But then she realized something else. Regardless of whether or not the press had gotten a good photo of her, she was going to end up in the paper anyway.

And that wasn't good, because SHUSH was going to be on the lookout for any references to Darkwing in the papers...

* * *

"Okay, let's see here...uh, one-thousand, five-hundred, sixty-four..."

"Megs, you've been stuck in the sixties for the past five minutes, and you've said one-thousand five-hundred sixty-four three times now."

"I have?"

"Yep, but your pesky forgetfulness won't allow you to remember that."

"Oh, well, in that case, um, one-thousand, five-hundred, sixty-five...um...one-thousand, five-hundred, sixty-four..."

"Megs, just forget it. We'll worry about it later. Right now, all I care is that we've got more than enough for my needs."

Megavolt set aside the bundle of dollar bills he was counting, setting it in a neat stack with several other bundles. "I thought the whole point in stealing money was counting out how much you've got in the end." he said, in his defense.

"Right, but if I let you do it, you wouldn't finish until the next millennium, and then you're totals would be off by a good ten thousand or more." Negaduck grumbled under his breath, clicking away at a computer.

Megavolt tried to see what Negaduck was doing from where he sat in the large, abandoned, warehouse, but Negaduck's hat blocked the computer screen. "You need to count out sooner or later." he pointed out.

"And I will, just by myself, when time will permit it." Negaduck said. "Right now, I have bigger things on my mind."

"But if you don't count it out, how will I know what my share will be?" Megavolt asked.

"You don't _get_ a share of that money." Negaduck yelled, but still facing the computer screen. "That money is for emergency purposes only. And it's an emergency at the moment. At least in my view it is. I don't care what you see it as."

"But I want to buy stuff too!" Megavolt complained.

"And you will _get _to, remember our agreement?" Negaduck assured the fellow supervillain. "You'll just have to wait at least one more day before that starts taking into effect."

"What in the world for?" Megavolt complained, shoving the pile of money away from him.

"You'll see." Negaduck answered.

Megavolt finally couldn't fight his curiosity and came to stand behind Negaduck, peering at the computer screen.

"You know, I like some the advances technology has made in recent years." Negaduck remarked, fully aware of what Megavolt was doing. "Online shopping is so much more efficient."

"How come you get to buy stuff?" Megavolt complained.

"Because _I'm_ in charge, and because _I_ need this stuff."

"But if you're going to be buying stuff, don't you need to count out the money anyway, to know how much you've got and likewise know how much you can get?" Megavolt asked.

"No, because I only need ten-thousand four-hundred thirty-two dollars and fifty-two cents for my purposes, an amount I know we have much _more _than in that stack of money there." Negaduck explained.

"That's true." Megavolt admitted. "But still, it's not fair."

"Since when have I ever been fair, Megs?"

Megavolt thought that through for a moment. "Okay, you've got me there." he said.

He studied the screen some more. "Just what are you planning to do, Negs?" Megavolt asked, looking att he list of things Negaduck had already bought. "You've bought industrial strength electric cable, several pounds of stainless steel and aluminum plating, yellow paint, two mountable machine guns and a hundred rounds of ammo for both, and a toaster oven. And you're looking through propeller blades at the moment. It sounds like you're going to build some kind of aircraft."

Negaduck slapped his face. "_Of course _I'm going to build an aircraft, you dolt. We need an aircraft. But not just any aircraft. Remember the Negacopter?"

"You mean that souped up helicopter that you purposely wreaked nine years ago when you finished your clone of Darkwing's Thunderquack?" Megavolt asked.

"That's the one."

"You're going to build a new one."

"Right."

"While only spending ten-thousand four-hundred thirty-two dollars and fifty-two cents."

"Exactly."

"Using only the things you've bought or about to buy."

"Right again."

"In one day."

"Yep."

"How?"

Negaduck grinned. "Well, I've got this stuff on overnight shipping, so it'll all arrive at the post office in the morning. We'll go and pick it up in disguise and bring it back here. Also, I'm not building the thing entirely from scratch. Go into the back room of the warehouse and take a look at what's there."

Megavolt obeyed. "It's an old helicopter." he stated.

Negaduck rolled his eyes. "Thank you Mister Obvious." he groaned. "I'm going to fix it up, and with your help, we can have it flight ready by tomorrow night once we have the needed parts."

Meagvolt returned to stand behind Negaduck's chair. "Why not simply build a new Negaquack?" he asked.

"That'd take too long, plus we'd have to build that from scratch." Negaduck pointed out.

"So where does the toaster oven fit into this?"

"It doesn't. I just wanted something that can decently cook my grilled cheese sandwiches." Negaduck answered. "No offense, Megs, but your way leaves it tasting much too...electrified."

"Oh." Megavolt answered. "So why do we need the Negacopter?"

"Because we're reaching the final stage of my plan, and that is to steal one final thing. And we need the Negacopter in order to break into the place it's being held at."

"And where is that?" Megavolt asked.

Negaduck grinned darkly. "SHUSH Headquarters."


	10. Let's Chat

Honker and Gosalyn chat, as do Launchpad and Herb Muddlefoot. A lot of random stuff in this chapter that is there only for laughs and filler really.

BTW, I sat down and planned out the rest of this fan-fic the other day (so that now I only have to write it) and I estimate that this fan-fic will have about 26 chapters. So the story's only beginning at this point. ;)

Chapter Ten

Let's Chat

The following morning saw Gosalyn pacing her bedroom again. But this time for different reasons. It was no longer a matter of 'what would SHUSH do if she contacted them,' but rather, a matter of when SHUSH would get here to blow her cover. Thus far, nothing had happened, but it didn't fool Gosalyn. She knew they'd show up sooner or later.

Launchpad was still blissfully unaware of it all, having slept in late, and gotten up to go straight to the bathroom for a very long shower, one he hadn't finished yet. He was still thinking that the real Darkwing Duck was back, and Gosalyn desperately wished that was so. She could ask for his advice if he was here.

The doorbell suddenly rang. Gosalyn was instantly alert. It was a Saturday, and there was very unlikely that the doorbell rang. It had to be SHUSH, she knew it. The doorbell rang again. Gosalyn wondered if she should let Launchpad get it, but then decided that if she got it, she might be able to find a way out of this mess.

The doorbell continued to ring. Whoever it was, they weren't simply going to go away. Gathering strength to prepare herself for whatever might happen, Gosalyn marched downstairs and to the door. Drawing one more deep breath, she grabbed the doorknob and swung the door open.

There stood Honker Muddlefoot, with an odd glare plastered on his face.

"Let's chat." he said, holding up the front of a newspaper.

It provided all the explanation Gosalyn needed. The headline read, "_Darkwing Duck a Fake! Real Photos Obtained Showing_ _He is a She!_" Below that headline was a crystal clear closeup of Darkwing at the bank, except it was so clear that you could not miss the fact that the Darkwing portrayed had red piggy tails dangling from out under of his hat and a very feminine body.

It was enough information that certain people could easily tell that it was Gosalyn under the mask. This included Honker.

"Who is it, Gos?" Lauchpad called from upstairs.

"Uh, um, oh," Gosalyn stuttered, panicking. "Just Honker! He's, um, here to help butter toast!"

"Toast?" Honker asked, bewildered.

"Oh, okay." Launchpad called in response, completely buying Gosalyn's story. "I'll be down in a moment!"

"Uh-oh." Gosalyn muttered, looking around the front porch urgently. "Quick, Honk, is that paper ours or yours?"

"It's mine." Honker answered. "Yours is over there in the bushes. But don't go..."

He was cut off as Gosalyn rushed forward and grabbed the paper. Rushing back, she shoved Honker, despite his complaints, upstairs into her bedroom. Then, taking the newspaper, she ran downstairs into Drake's bedroom and stuffed the paper through the document shredder. Then, she opened it up, pulled out the shreds and stuffed them back through again, guaranteeing that Launchpad would not see it.

But she didn't stop there. She raced into the kitchen and yanked the cords on the phone, the TV, and the computer. She pulled out the batteries in the radio in the kitchen, and disconnected the car radio. She went around the entire house, insuring that Launchpad would not hear or see this news about Darkwing.

She did it partly for her own good, keeping the fact that she had been posing as Darkwing secret, but also for Launchpad's own good. He really had gotten his hopes up that the real Darkwing Duck was back. She didn't want that to all come crashing done on him, just yet. She'd only let it when she had no choice.

Finally finishing with all of that, she went back upstairs to her bedroom. Launchpad was exiting his bedroom, having just finished changing.

"How's the toast buttering going?" he asked as they crossed paths.

"Huh?" Gosalyn asked, forgetting for a moment her cover story. "Oh! Um, no butter, we're going to, uh, study for a big test next week instead. _Really _big test, can't wait, or be disturbed, so, um, you better leave us alone for, uh, say...five hours?"

"Sure thing, Gos." Launchpad said, walking down the stairs idly, not seeing anything wrong at all.

Gosalyn let out her breath in a long whoosh and started to open her bedroom door.

"Care for a snack while you study, Gos?" Launchpad called up from the kitchen.

"Uh, no, no thanks Launchpad." Gosalyn quickly stated.

"Okay. I'm going to be out in the garden if you need me."

"Sure thing, take as long as you want."

Finally, she slipped inside her bedroom where Honker waited, the odd look still on his face.

Gosalyn stared at him for a moment, unsure how to begin. "Well," she started finally, "What can I say?"

"Why are you impersonating Darkwing, Gosalyn?" Honker asked calmly, but it felt like he should have yelled it or something to Gosalyn.

"So. You figured it out." Gosalyn said, stating the obvious.

"You think?"

"What _do_ you think, Honk?"

"That this is the last thing I expected you to ever do." Honker stated, sitting down on Gosalyn's bed, not making eye contact. "Seven years ago, maybe, but now...it's just not like you."

"A lot has happened in the past few days, Honk." Gosalyn said, sitting down next to him.

"Yeah, I noticed."

He glanced at the paper lying next to him. Gosalyn's eyes followed. The photo of herself was picture clear, and seemed incriminating.

"Look, if it's any constellation, I'm still having trouble believing I'm actually doing it myself." Gosalyn stated.

"But _why?_" Honker asked.

"Well, it's not without a good reason." Gosalyn assured him.

"What reason?" Honker demanded.

Gosalyn sighed, stood up, and went over to her desk. Quickly shifting through the tangled mess, she pulled out the letter, and silently handed it to Honker. After staring at it for a moment, he took it and began reading.

"'How you act to this is up to you.'" Honker read out loud after having read the letter once. "And this is was how you decided _to_ act?" he pointed at the article on the newspaper.

"It makes sense." Gosalyn pointed out. "By impersonating Darkwing, I could go where I want without hardly anybody standing in my way. Not to mention I had all of his gadgets at my disposal and I could joyride in the Ratcatcher."

Honker thought that through while reading the letter once again. "But why take this job upon yourself, especially when it might end up leading nowhere?" he asked. "Why not hand it over to someone like those guys at SHUSH?"

"Because, one, Darkwing requested I keep the situation secret." Gosalyn began. "Why, I don't know. Two, I felt like it had to be me who did it, because I had to know myself. And three, I already _tried_ discussing this with SHUSH, but they don't want to hear about it. In fact, they know who I am! And if they know that, they can find out anything else they might want to know about me! Where I live is an excellent example! For all we know, they could be coming here to apprehend me right now."

"Why would they do that?" Honker asked.

"Because, Hooter threatened to do it if I didn't stop impersonating Darkwing." Gosalyn answered grimly.

* * *

Outside, Launchpad was busy watering the vegetable garden he had started some time back. He used the produce to make his various dishes, all of which only he seemed to enjoy. Gosalyn seemed to hate it all. He didn't understand that, but there was a lot about the teenager he didn't understand.

"Hiya neighbor!" Herb Muddlefoot suddenly called out from the other side of the fence.

"Hey, Herb." Launchpad murmured, focusing on his watering.

"How's life?" Herb went on to say.

"Oh, okay, I suppose." Launchpad answered. "I'm my usual self, while Gosalyn's just the opposite."

"Ah yes, those teenagers can be quite moody." Herb agreed. "Take my Tank for instance. One time a few years back he got so mad that he smashed all of Binky's fine china." he wiped an eye. "That turned out to be a good thing, though, because I was able to get a huge delivery of Quackerware for us and for me to sell."

"Yes, I remember." Launchpad answered, thinking about the many times Herb had appeared at their door selling Quackerware.

"Hey, maybe I can give ya a few pointers, you know, show you the ropes." Herb suddenly thought.

"Oh, no thanks, Herb." Launchpad assured him, turning off the sprayer on the hose. "Being a guardian has made me light and nimble. I see things before they happen. I have the reflexes of a cat!"

He then turned and tripped on the hose, falling flat on his face.

"Oh yes, I know what you mean." Herb said, oblivious to Launchpad's fall. "Felt the same way a few times myself." he chuckled. "But anyway, what's the problem?"

"Well, I don't know." Launchpad admitted, picking himself up. "Gos has been acting odd lately. Odd as in, well, kind of depressed, I guess. I mean, she keeps to herself, hasn't been going to any public events, doesn't eat what I put in front of her half the time, she's been acting very tired a lot too, and very secretive. I feel like she knows something that I don't. Something I should know." he thought it all through once more in his head. "I'm wondering if she's upset about Drake. It was the anniversary of his disappearance a few days ago, but then..."

"Aw, poor Drake." Herb interrupted. "Haven't seen him for a good seven years now." he fell silent for a moment. "Funny, they've been saying in the papers that's how long Darkwing Duck's been missing."

"Uh-huh." Launchpad said, half-listening, rolling up the garden hose.

"Have you been following those stories about him? They're saying he's a fake now." Herb stated.

"Really?" Launchpad asked. He thought about it. "Nah, it can't be." he said dismissively.

"Yeah, I agree." Herb said, nodding. "I mean, how do those reporters know who he is or isn't? Maybe they say in the newspaper." he looked around his yard absentmindedly. "There was a little blurb about it in the paper, but I can't find ours anymore."

"That's funny, I can't find ours either." Launchpad remarked, straightening. "I guess the paperboy slacked off on his route again today."

"No, I saw it somewhere today. Maybe Binky knows where it is." Herb rubbed his chin in thought. "Well, seeya neighbor."

"Bye Herb." Launchpad answered, and they went their separate ways.

* * *

"...Okay, so we can't try to hide you, because SHUSH would track you down, unless, we hid you in Darkwing Tower. They don't know about it, right? So that could work, if we, no, maybe if we presented them with the evidence...oh, but you pretty much tried that already, didn't you?" Honker muttered something under his breath for a moment, before continuing pacing and thinking aloud, "Possibly, if we can somehow prove that it's really not you who's impersonating Darkwing..."

Gosalyn had long stopped listening, and sat on her bed, flipping through the newspaper Honker had brought. The article declaring Darkwing a fake was only the tip of the iceberg for her. There were several articles on the subject that discussed various other things about Darkwing, all of them his worse moments. If Gosalyn didn't know better, she'd say the papers was trying to make Darkwing look bad. Whatever the case, they were succeeding.

"...so then all we'd need is someone who's willing to get themselves arrested, which would prove to be problematic because, let's face it, who would want to willingly get arrested? But think about it, if we did manage to get someone, it could work, the only drawbacks would be, well..."

Gosalyn then turned the page and found an article she had missed, shoved to one corner of the page to make room for all of the Darkwing-bashing articles the publishers of the paper felt were more important. The headline simply read: "_Megavolt Escapes! Police Suspect Supervillain had an Accomplice_."

"...itching, swelling, all of that allergy stuff that I normally get. Which isn't too bad, seeing that I've lived with it for sixteen and a half years now. You'd think I'd have found a way to relieve myself of it in emergencies though, but no..."

Intrigued, Gosalyn read the article. It didn't say much though. All it did say was that Megavolt escaped through an underground drainage pipe, and that it was unanimously agreed by the police that Meagvolt must had someone working on the outside in order to escape. Who that could be, they didn't know, nor where the two could possibly be.

"...of course, that incident had it's merits, because I discovered how much Tank disliked garlic. No, not disliked, he _hated_ the stuff. Literally, he wouldn't touch the stuff with a ten foot pole. Naturally, I used that to my advantage sticking it wherever I saw it fit, like under his bed, in his homework, in his lunches, I could go into full detail about it, but that would be ranting. Anyway..."

This explains a great deal, Gosalyn thought. In fact, it explains everything about that bank robbery. The electrical burns, the stunned guards, the welded safe door, everything. It had to have been Megavolt that robbed the bank. The bullet holes fit into this too. Even though Megavolt had no need for any kind of gun when he had his powers, it fit into the police's theory of him having an accomplice. Obviously, if he had one, the accomplice would need some alternate means of defense. In this case, a machine gun. But it didn't say anything about who the accomplice was, and there was no real article describing the bank robbery in the paper, thus providing no more clues towards that.

"...which would be like taking a stick of butter to a hot oven burner. And that brings us back to our problem with SHUSH. What do we know we can't do? Well, we can't hide you, we can't somehow convince them to not go after, and we can't get them believe our side of the story without more evidence...hey, Gos, did you look for clues to your Dad's disappearance in the Tower?"

"Huh?" Gosalyn asked, looking up from the paper. "Oh, yeah I did. Didn't find anything in the conventual places, though."

"Conventual places." Honker repeated, sitting down next to her. "Gos, what if your dad put a clue in a non-conventual place?"

"Then we're sunk." Gosalyn said, throwing aside the newspaper. "When dad got thinking outside the box, he _really_ got thinking outside the box. The odds of me finding something outside the box are real slim."

"Maybe for you." Honker agreed. "But what if I could take a look around?"


	11. Snooping Around

Chapter 11

Snooping Around

Sneaking Honker into Darkwing Tower wasn't as easy as it seemed, because Gosalyn sneaking into the tower unnoticed was one thing, but getting Honker in at the same time, while he belonged across the street in his bedroom, was another. They had spent most of the day working out a game plan, all the while being on the look out for SHUSH should they arrive, and finally got it all sorted out.

They went about the rest of the day as normal, spending the day like any other Saturday. As the day drew to a close and it was time to go to sleep, Gosalyn would go to bed, while making sure that Launchpad also went to bed, this time actually in bed, and not on the couch. Once Gosalyn guaranteed that, she would stay up in secret, as would Honker.

Honker had sat down and calculated how long it would take for Launchpad to be in a deep enough sleep that he wouldn't notice what was going on around him, while throwing on an extra half hour just to be safe. Once the necessary time had passed, Gosalyn would take the gas gun she had hung onto with the grappling hook in place, and climb out onto the roof of her house, as would Honker on his end.

The reason was because Herb Muddlefoot stayed up very late, (in fact, Gosalyn had to wonder if Herb was there all day and night long) watching TV, and would notice Honker trying to sneak out any other way out of the house. So they had to find another way to get Honker to Gosalyn's house in the middle of the night.

Their solution was simple, although Honker did not like having to do it. Gosalyn would simply fire the grappling hook over to Honker's roof, and, assuming it latched on properly, Honker could use the rope connecting the two to get over to Gosalyn's house.

That part of the plan worked, although Honker was scared witless by the end of it, having slipped and nearly fallen twice. Once Gosalyn got Honker to calm down, she retracted the rope, and they very quietly made their way downstairs to the two armchairs, Honker sitting in one while Gosayln sat in the other. An intense ride later, they were in Darkwing Tower.

"So what are we looking for?" Gosalyn asked, immediately jumping up, ready to search.

Honker took a moment longer to recover from the ride. "Anything outside the box." he answered.

"Well, I see lots of boxes." Gosalyn stated, scanning over the many boxes in the room that stored Darkwing's stuff. "Safe bet that what we're looking for isn't in them?"

"Check them anyway." Honker said. "There might be a clue among them hidden in the same manner as the one you found in your attic."

"I sure hope I won't have to knock stacks over on top of myself to do that." Gosalyn muttered.

Honker began tapping bricks in the walls. "I thought you said you searched all over this place." he said.

"I did." Gosalyn answered from the other side of the room. "I just took a few shortcuts, that's all."

Honker gave her a look.

"I was tired that night, okay?" Gosalyn said in her self-defense. "I had been up all night looking for clues."

"Well, let's hope we can find one now." Honker stated.

They spent the next few hours searching. Gosalyn went all through the boxes, and Honker searched all over the tower for any secret drawers, containers, anything that would be considered outside the box. Gosalyn even scaled up to the lightning rod that stood on top of the tower to search for anything that might tell them anything.

But they ultimately found nothing.

Sitting down on a set of steps, Honker hung his head. "Your dad must have really, _really_, thought outside the box, or the letter you found already was the only clue he got to leave."

"I sure hope not." Gosalyn bemoaned, sitting down next to Honker. "If that was the only clue he did leave, then what did he expect me to do? Absolutely nothing?"

"No, I agree, he had something in mind that he wanted, or at least expected, you to do." Honker admitted. "But the question is, what?"

Gosalyn sighed. "Too bad we can't just ask him." she said. "That would help so much."

"Unfortunately, if we could ask him, there wouldn't be any need, because we'd know where he was." Honker pointed out.

"Yeah, I know." Gosalyn answered.

"Well, let's look at it logically." Honker suggested. "Where are all the places you're dad could've hidden something, if anything at all?"

"All the places I could think of to search." Gosalyn answered.

"Which are?" Honker prompted after a moment's pause.

"Well, there's the Tower, home, the bowling alley he would occasionally visit, uh, SHUSH, but we can safely assume that it's not there, otherwise they would've found it." Gosalyn paused. "That's all that comes to mind." she said.

"Well, it's a start." Honker admitted. "Where exactly did you search your home for more clues?"

"Everywhere I didn't see everyday." Gosalyn said. "Like, the cabinet under the kitchen sink, under the couch, Dad's bedroom, the attic, the basement, the flower garden in the backyard, the control box for the water sprinklers in the front yard, in the car's glove compartment, er..." she paused again. "And that's it."

Honker ran that all through in his head. "Wait." he finally stated. "There's one place you didn't look."

"Oh?" Gosalyn asked.

"There's your Dad's office." Honker said. "You know, the place were he did all his hobbies, work, inventing, and all of that."

Gosalyn fell silent for a moment. "That room's off limits, Honk." she said slowly.

"So you haven't looked in there?" he asked.

"Yes, because one, it's locked." Goslayn answered.

"That wouldn't stop you." Honker pointed out.

"True, but that's the second reason." Gosalyn said. "I don't _want_ to go in there."

"What?" Honker asked, surprised. "Why?"

"That was were all of Dad's personal stuff is at, Honk." Gosalyn said. "I'd feel like I was intruding or something, going in there."

Honker stared at her, amazed. "Gos, you used to try to get in there all the time when we were younger." he said.

"Yes, well, that was before dad disappeared." Gosalyn said. "Now there's no point."

"But Gos," Honker began, "I can't think of any place _better _to hide a clue to explain his disappearance."

"We're not searching that room, Honk." Gosalyn stated plainly. "Find another place for us to search."

Honker stared at her for a moment, but eventually realized that there was no changing Gosalyn's mind at this point. It was quite clear she had made up her mind, and once she had done that, well, it was pointless to stop her, or in this case, to get her to do it. Still, it puzzled him. Why didn't Gosalyn want to go in that room, a room she had so desperately go into to see what her dad did in there all the time in years past? It just didn't compute.

Wait a minute...

"That's it!" he exclaimed, startling Gosalyn.

"What's it?" she asked, watching Honker march up the stairs they sat upon to the line of computer that sat at the top.

"Gosalyn, what have you done with your dad's computers?" he asked, sitting himself down in front of the master computer.

"Besides contacting SHUSH, nothing." Gosalyn said, following Honker up the stairs. "Why?"

As the system booted up, Honker turned in his seat and looked at Gosalyn expectantly.

It suddenly donned on her. "You think dad might have hidden a clue on his computer?" she asked, sitting down in a chair next to Honker.

"It's worth a shot." Honker said, bringing up a file search program. "What should we search for?"

"I don't know." Gosalyn said. "Uh, try recent activities. It should still have the records of dad's activities since before he vanished."

Honker tried it, and came up with lots of results, but none with any relation to what they wanted.

"Let's try looking for secret files." Honker suggested, typing.

The search turned up empty with no results to speak of.

"Messages." Gosalyn suddenly spoke, rubbing her head in thought. "Try looking for messages, most specifically for me."

That search turned up empty as well, only bringing up past messages from SHUSH.

"This isn't working." Honker said, closing the search program. "It's like jabbing a stick into various places on a lake, hoping you catch a fish. It'd be faster to just do a manual search of the computer's files."

"But that could take _days._" Gosalyn pointed out. "Days that we don't have."

Honker did not answer, opening files one at a time and briefly skimming through them. He opened up a map of St. Canard, with labels on it to tell were all of the villains hide-outs where at the time. One grabbed his attention. It was an old warehouse labeled as "Fearsome Five Hide-out."

"Gosalyn." he suddenly said slowly, "This is going off topic, but you saw the article about Megavolt escaping in the paper right?"

"Yeah, what about it?" Gosalyn asked, coming to stand behind him.

"Well, I was just thinking about where he might be hiding out, and wondered if he might be hiding here." Honker pointed at the warehouse on the map.

Gosalyn studied it for a long time, her eyes narrowing. "You stay here, Honker, I'll be back in a little bit."

She walked off. Honker watched her, bewildered. "What are you doing?" he asked.

Gosalyn donned on Darkwing's hat. "Darkwing Duck is going to go check out that warehouse, like you suggested."

"But...but..." Honker began stuttering, "What about me, what about SHUSH, what about _Megavolt? _What will you do if he finds you?"

"You stay here until I come back." Gosalyn answered, putting on the rest of Darkwing's costume. "I'll handle with SHUSH and Megavolt."

"You sure?" Honker inquired. "You don't have to do this."

"True." Gosalyn answered. "But consider this. If I don't, who will?"

Honker was silent for a moment. "Good luck Gos." he said.

Gosalyn nodded, before adding, "Hopefully I won't need it."

* * *

Gosalyn brought the Ratcatcher to a halt in an alleyway behind the warehouse in question. She already knew that someone had to be in there, for she could hear movement, plus a weak, flickering light. It could be anyone in there, which meant she had to get in a position to see inside and find out just who was inside.

She spied a ladder leading up to the roof and quickly scaled up it. Walking carefully along so that she wouldn't make any noise, she made her way to an opening in the warehouse's roof. She wondered briefly why it was there, but upon looking inside through the opening, she found out why.

A large helicopter sat directly below the opening, and it was clear that it was meant to fly out. Crouching next to the chopper's tail was Megavolt, who was busy arch welding something. Standing some distance away reading some sort of plan, was...

"Negaduck." Gosalyn murmured under her breath, straining her ears to hear if they were saying anything.

Megavolt finished his welding and stepped back to admire it. "You know," he said aloud, "It's too quiet around here without the rest of the Fearsome Five here with us."

"Yes, well, we'll get the band back together soon." Negaduck promised, folding up the plans. "As soon as we steal this one last thing from SHUSH Headquarters."

Gosalyn stifled a gasp.

"We ready to roll, Megs?" Negaduck asked, stepping up behind Megavolt.

"Yep." Megavolt answered, "See, I took the panel there and welded it in a doubly reenforcing manner, so that it won't suddenly decompress and..."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, shut-up." Negaduck said distractedly. "Let's get this show on the road."

He climbed into the cockpit and started the engine. Megavolt followed suit. Hearing the chopper's propeller blades start to slice the air, Gosalyn looked for cover, and saw a ventilation shaft that would do nicely. Ducking behind it, she heard the Negacopter take off, reorient itself, then speed off into the night.

"I've got to do something." Gosalyn said to herself, "Whatever this thing is, Negaduck seems confident he can get it, and that it'll get the rest of the Fearsome Five out of jail. And if that happens..."

There was no need to finish the thought. Acting quickly, she slid back down the ladder she had climbed up to get there and swung herself onto the Ratcatcher, about to start the engine.

Then a voice rang out from behind her.

"I must say I'm disappointed in you, Miss Mallard." said J. Gander Hooter.


	12. SHUSH Intervenes

Chapter 12

SHUSH Intervenes

Before Gosalyn could do anything to react, she saw that she was surrounded on all sides by SHUSH agents. There was no escaping, except to go up, and there was no where to go from there.

Gosalyn surveyed the group, wondering if she could take them on. There weren't many, only about nine to ten, all looking like they were very well trained in apprehending a suspect, and probably were each twice as strong as Gosalyn was. But Darkwing himself had taken on twice as greater odds and came out of it singed, but triumphant. Why not her?

But before she could do even so much as plan her first move, all nine to ten agents jumped on her, promptly overwhelming her and restraining her well. Gosalyn tried to squirm free, kicking at any agent that was in front of her, (which were multiple) but failed to get any leeway.

"Now, now, Miss Mallard, it's useless to resist." Hooter said, standing somewhere outside the encirclement of agents, where Gosalyn could not see him. "I warned you that this would happen if you did not stop with these actions, and you refused to listen, leaving SHUSH with no choice but to intervene before you hurt yourself. It's your own fault that this happened."

"What?" Gsoalyn yelled, feeling herself being bodily lifted up from the Ratcatcher and moved away. She tried to look around the burly body of one such agent, but couldn't. Resisting more, she yelled, "Hooter! You're not going to get away with this, I have my rights!"

"Some of which are going to be revoked by myself personally if you do not cooperate." Hooter said, still hiding out of sight.

"Cooperate?" Gosalyn yelled, trying hard to fight against her captors. "I was all for cooperating! But, umph, you're idea of cooperation was to deny everything I told you! You wouldn't listen (let go of me!) to me explain why I was out here, why I'm doing this, and you probably won't even listen to me tell you that Megavolt and...oh yeah...Hooter, wait! (Give me some room here, buddy) Megavolt! I know where he is! Heck, I know who's helping him! (Hey, watch it, you!) It's, mmph, Negaduck! Let me go! Hooter, are you listening! They're going to try to..."

"Ignore her." Hooter ordered calmly. "Take her to the car, and search her for any of Darkwing's gadgets."

"Hooter, quit hiding from me and face me!" Gosalyn said, aiming a kick at a nearby agents face, "I'm not going anywhere! Listen, you're making a mistake! While you're capturing me, Negaduck and Megavolt are out there, about to break into...mmph!"

An agent stifled Gosalyn's beak as they finally set her down on the ground, feet first, next to a classy blue car. Gosalyn bit the agent's finger and continued her yelling as the other agents began to pat her down, searching for gadgets.

"Hooter, you've have got to stop and listen to me! I don't care _what_ you do afterwards, just so long as you listen to me and do something right for once! Negaduck's going to steal something from SH...HEY! That's private!"

Gosalyn stomped on the foot of the agent who had ventured a tad too far in his search for gadgets and made a break for it. She was quickly grabbed by the cape by multiple hands before getting much farther than a few feet. She was then forcibly placed in the backseat of the blue car and strapped in. Gosalyn fought at the buckle, but got nowhere.

Finally, she folded her arms and sat back in the seat, a scowl plastered all over her face. It was only then that Hooter climbed into the seat opposite of her. Calmly buckling himself up, he called to the driver in front to head for SHUSH Headquarters. The car lurched forward and they were on their way.

Gosalyn eyed the director of SHUSH as he pulled out a manilla folder. "Going to listen to me now?" she asked.

Hooter didn't answer, and instead began reading from the folder. "Full name: Gosalyn Lynn Waddlemeyer (Mallard from nineteen ninety-four to present). Current age: sixteen. Age at time record was made: nine. Background history: Formerly daughter of James and Sarah Waddlemeyer until late nineteen ninety-one when both were killed in plane crash. Raised by Professor Grant Waddlemeyer, grandfather, until nineteen ninety-three when professor is killed in accident during a classified military project involving the Waddlemeyer Ramrod. Suspected death was intentional. Left in care of St. Canard Orphanage until early nineteen ninety-four when adopted by Drake Mallard until Drake Mallard's disappearance in nineteen ninety-five. Care left to Drake Mallard's friend, Launchpad McQuack."

Hooter paused and glanced up at Gosalyn. Her face betrayed nothing but hatred at the moment. He continued, "Notes: ambitious girl with a habit of causing unusual trouble and grief for elders, and a constant want to try ambitious things. Grandfather claimed to have said that she has "spirit." Known to aide unofficial SHUSH agent, Darkwing Duck, quite frequently along with Launchpad McQuack until nineteen ninety-five at time of Darkwing's disappearance."

He looked at Gosalyn straight in the eye as he read the last line. "Side-note: Investigation into suspicion that Darkwing Duck is Drake Mallard conducted from late nineteen ninety-five into early nineteen ninety-six turned up empty. Suggested that Gosalyn Mallard may be aware if investigation's results are accurate."

Hooter saw that Gosalyn, through all of her pent up anger at the moment, was surprised at this last line, telling Hooter that a long time suspicion of his might actually be true, but decided to not press it at the moment.

Setting the folder aside, he watched Gosalyn for a moment. "You've lead quite a life, Miss Mallard." he noted. "One full of grief and tragedy. Normally, a girl at your age couldn't withstand such pressure and eventually succumb." he pressed a button and sudden there was a tray of hot chocolate sitting between them. Hooter helped himself to a cup. "I would've thought that by the third time you lost your official guardian, it would've been too much for a nine-year-old girl to handle."

"I've had practice in dealing with death." Gosalyn stated simply.

"Yes, I can see that." Hooter commented, pulling out another file. "But there are certain things that do not add up." he held up the new file in his hand. "This file lists all of the major events in your life, Miss Mallard, which we have been collecting since you're first encounter with Darkwing Duck. And there are some things I'd like you to clear up."

He cleared his throat and began reading. "Can you explain to me why Drake Mallard was mysteriously missing until the exact day you were adopted, when you and him had never been recorded meeting previous to that day?" he asked, "And why he had several unexplained injuries on the same day in question?"

Gosalyn did not answer.

"How about why Launchpad McQuack moved into your home the same time you did, promptly quitting the job he had had with McDuck Enterprises for several years the same time with little explanations, again after none of you ever being recorded having met before said time frame?" Hooter asked next.

Again Gosalyn did not answer, but her scowl grew bigger.

"And there are more." Hooter went on. "Such as why Drake Mallard was not there to cheer you on when you were accepted into the Whiffle Boy Championship, why both Drake Mallard and Launchpad McQuack have had several unexplained disappearances and reappearances as well as several impromptu trips, why your house as had massive repairs done to it no less than fifty-four times in a two-year period, why several..."

"Is this all you wanted me for, to interrogate me?" Gosalyn asked suddenly.

"A lot has happened seven years ago." Hooter explained. "And SHUSH would like some answers."

"And you think I have them." Gosalyn finished.

"More than think." Hooter said, pouring out another cup of hot chocolate, offering it silently to Gosalyn, who refused.

"Even if I did know, I wouldn't tell you." Gosalyn said. "And you know that, don't you?"

This time it was Hooter who didn't answer.

"That's why you never released the results of SHUSH's search for Darkwing." Gosalyn went on to say. "You were only using it as cover to try and figure out who Darkwing really was. And since your search was inconclusive..."

"Trust me, Gosalyn, we really did search for Darkwing." Hooter assured her. "But it was also a very opportune time to investigate further. However, most of the information I've read to you just now we had already gotten during the two-year period in which Darkwing assisted us..."

"You mean you were digging to uncover his identity, behind his back, while he more than willingly assisted you in grave situations even during those two years ago?" Gosalyn asked, bewildered. "And you're only _now _telling someone close to him about this?"

"It's with much regret that it happened." Hooter admitted. "But SHUSH policies dictate that..."

"Oh, don't give me that policy stuff." Gosalyn said. "Darkwing has nothing to do with SHUSH's insane policies, and you know it. I can't believe you're even referring to it! You were always the one that was willing to bend the rules a bit!"

"That has changed." Hooter said. "In fact, it's more than changed. It never happened. I was never willing to bend the rules."

Gosalyn gaped at him, not knowing what to begin criticizing the director for first. "I can't believe it!" she exclaimed. "I just can't believe it! Hooter, you are single handedly making what could be a really big mistake, and you won't even listen to me explain why! You simply will not let me help you save your skin and SHUSH's! When Megavolt and Negaduck break into your headquarters to steal what..."

"That is irrelevant information to this situation." Hooter interrupted.

"_Irrelevant?_" Goslayn repeated, feeling ready to pounce on Hooter and pull out every last one of his feathers. "Didn't you see that helicopter take off back at the warehouse?"

"Helicopter?" Hooter asked, sounding puzzled. "What helicopter?"

There was a long pause.

"When _did _you and your agents arrive at the warehouse?" Gosalyn asked.

"Just as you were climbing down from the roof, if you must know." Hooter said, to Gosalyn's dismay. They arrived too late to see Negaduck and Megavolt take off. "I have no idea why you were up there, but personally, I don't care."

The car suddenly came to a halt. The driver got out and opened Hooter's door. Hooter climbed out.

"Hooter, don't make the mistake I know you're going to make." Gosalyn said.

Hooter paused for a moment, looking back at Gosalyn like he might actually decide to listen to her for a moment, but it ended quickly.

"Take her to my office and lock the door." Hooter told a nearby agent, who was awaiting orders. "She is to stay there until I am ready to discuss the matter further with Mister McQuack."

He then walked off. Gosalyn watched him go, as the guards escorted her inside SHUSH headquarters without a fight, her heart sinking. The gig was up, she knew it. The whole matter was going to end here.

SHUSH was quiet, and that probably could be explained by the fact that it was after-hours, even for a secret service. They passed few people, and who they did pass were all security guards. After traveling up to the building's fourth floor, they arrived at Hooter's office. Unlike the agents that had apprehended Gosalyn, these agents gently ushered her into the rectangular room then closed the door as they left, locking it in the process.

Gosalyn sighed and flopped into a nearby chair. It felt very nice, and Gosalyn suspected it's lining was genuine leather, but she had too much on her mind to be able to enjoy it throughly.

"What am I going to do?" she asked herself out loud. "Any moment now, Hooter's going to spill the beans to Launchpad, and at that point, it's all going to be over. Worse still is that I'll probably be stuck in here while Megavolt and Negaduck are stealing something out of SHUSH Headquart..."

Gosalyn suddenly stood up. "Now wait a minute!" she exclaimed. "There _is_ something I can do! _I'm _already in SHUSH Headquarters! Maybe I can cut off Negaduck and Megavolt before they mange to steal whatever it is they're after! All I have to do is get out of here!"

She glanced around the room, looking for a way out. There were the windows, which were probably unlocked, but that was only because there was no need to be. The office was on the fourth floor, which meant that beyond that window was a straight drop to the ground. Gosalyn would need a rope to go that way, and she did not have one. The agents had taken the gas gun along with the grappling hook and rope.

The only other way out she saw was the door, but that didn't mean that there wasn't another way out. This _was_ J. Gander Hooter's office, head director of SHUSH, the most top-secret government agency on the planet. There was probably multiple secret exits out of the room, which where undoubtably accessible to Gosalyn if she wanted to use them. The only problem was that they were secret, and Gosalyn didn't know where they might be, and it'd take too long to search for them.

That left only one way out, and that was the way she came in. The door, which was locked.

"But is it locked with a high tech lock, or a simple, regular lock, I wonder?" Gosalyn said, approaching the door.

A quick search of the door revealed the answer.

"Hooter made a huge mistake and a huge oversight." Gosalyn remarked good-humoredly, pulling a hairpin out of her hair.

Two seconds later, the lock sprung open, followed shortly by the door itself. Glancing up and down the halls and saw that they were empty and void of guards, Gosalyn slid out into the dark hallways, extremely confident in herself, and what she was about to do. The only drawback was time. She had a lack of it. Megavolt and Negaduck had the advantage because they had a speedy helicopter to ride in. They might already be here and she wouldn't know it until too late. Hooter also had the advantage of time, because he was at this very moment, in the process of contacting Launchpad. The pilot was a very deep sleeper, and it would take a few tries for the phone, the means of contact Gosalyn assumed Hooter was using, to wake him. But that in itself, wouldn't be long.

So time was short. Which meant she'd have to be fast and make the most of it.


	13. Attempted Theft

Chapter 13

Attempted Theft

The new Negacopter sailed beautifully for it's maiden voyage. Even Negaduck was forced to admit that he was impressed. But just because he was admitting that he was impressed meant he had to say it out loud and not just to himself.

"Could use work on that tail fin, Megs." Negaduck growled as he piloted the chopper over St. Canard. "It sticks."

"What?" Megavolt bemoaned. "You had me completely rebuild that thing twice!"

"And it's still not perfect." Negaduck pointed out. "I expect nothing less than perfect on my equipment."

"Let me see." Megavolt insisted, and took the controls from Negaduck for a moment, titling the chopper this way and that. "Seems fine to me." he said.

"But it's not for me." Negaduck said. "And all of that implies."

Megavolt mumbled something and flopped back into his seat. "How long until we reach SHUSH Headquarters?" he asked.

"Not long, Megs." Negaduck assured him. "Not long at all."

The Negacopter zoomed onward undeterred, with nothing to stop it, getting ever closer to it's goal...

* * *

Gosalyn wandered aimlessly down the dark hallways of SHUSH. There wasn't a soul in sight. She considered this a sign of good luck, and savored the idea that she actually had some. She could really use it.

Gosalyn knew she didn't have any real idea where she was going and where to go to stop Negaduck and Megavolt, but she did know that, considering who it was she was trying to stop, it shouldn't be too hard. They'd probably make a lot of racket in the process of their thieving scheme and would probably hear them.

Assuming that there wasn't multiple floors dividing them from her.

Gosalyn thought through the possibilities as to where the item Negaduck apparently wanted to steal might be, but that didn't help any, in fact, it made it worse. She was in the building of the most top secret agency on the planet, which meant that the building would be littered with top secret devices and projects. All of which Negaduck or Megavolt would want.

For all she knew, Negaduck could be looking for anything, ranging from SHUSH's secret coffee recipe to guns for Negs's new Negacop...

Wait, that was it! Negaduck was using the Negacopter to reach SHUSH which meant it fit into the theft-to-be somehow. Most likely, Negaduck needed it to reach someplace high. The top of the SHUSH building. Which likewise meant that whatever it was that was going to get stolen was on the top floor. If it wasn't, why bother breaking in from the roof?

Gosalyn grinned, making her way towards an elevator. She was so smart sometimes, it was almost scary.

* * *

"SHUSH HQ ahoy!" Megavolt suddenly exclaimed, pointing down at the sprawling city below them.

Negaduck grinned and brought the Negacopter lower. "It's almost time, Megs." he said, happily. "Soon nothing will stop me."

"You mean us." Megavolt corrected absentmindedly, watching the SHUSH building come closer.

"No, I mean me." Negaduck said. "You will only be my lackey."

"But, that's not fair!" Megavolt said. "Why do you get to be unstoppable and not me?"

"There's a very simple explanation." Negaduck replied, and while not looking away from the controls, pulled out a pistol and pointed it at Megavolt's head, finger dangerously close to pulling the trigger.

Megavolt stared down the pistol's barrel for several moments, then nervously said, "well, when you put it that way..." and dropped the argument instantly.

Negaduck sneered cheerfully, putting the gun away. "Yes, Megs, nothing will stop me now." he said again. "Now, how close are we to the roof?"

"About ten or twenty feet, give or take a inch." Megavolt replied.

"Good." Negaduck said. "Now, SHUSH generates it's own power, so that it doesn't have to rely on St. Canard's rather dubious power supply. It's located on the roof in a big metal box, towards the back. It's green, you can't miss it."

"Where?" Megavolt asked.

"Towards the back, you knob!" Negaduck exclaimed, "Do you see it?"

"Yes."

"Good." Negaduck said, then turned his attention back to the controls. "Take it out."

"With pleasure."

* * *

J. Gander Hooter tapped the tabletop, annoyed. Sure it was late at night, he knew that. Most people were in a deep sleep by now. But most people don't sleep _so_ deeply that they miss hearing their phone ring thirteen times now. Either Launchpad McQuack was really asleep, or he was merely ignoring the phone.

Upon the fourteenth try to call the home, and still not getting through, Hooter was just about to give up and send a team of agents directly to the house, when, at the last possible moment, the call finally got through.

There was a long pause, in which the person on the other end yawned.

"This is Launchpad McQuack, how can I help you?" the voice automatically said, sleepily.

"Yes, so sorry for waking you up." Hooter said politely, but in reality wasn't sorry at all, "But this is rather important. I'm Direct..."

But at the moment, the power went out and the line went dead. Hooter slammed the receiver down hard, frustrated at his bad luck. He waited a few moments for the back-up generators to kick in, thinking that this was merely another annoying black out. But they never did.

It was then that Hooter began to suspect something was wrong. It never took this long for the back-up generators to kick in the past. He grew more alarmed when he saw that the lights outside of the SHUSH building were still glowing strong. Something was wrong with SHUSH's end of the power supply.

Immediately, Hooter suspected he knew exactly what had happened.

"Miss Mallard, you're going to make me go gray." he muttered, exiting SHUSH's communications room. "Well, gray_er._"

Two agents were waiting outside the room, and were looking around, puzzled as to the suddenness of the black-out. Hooter called for their attention.

"Find everyone you can." Hooter directed them, "Then head for my office. I believe Miss Mallard has escaped."

* * *

Gosalyn was riding calmly in the elevator, listening to the annoying, yet peaceful elevator music, when the elevator suddenly jerked and came to a halt, the lights going out.

"Great." Gosalyn muttered. "So much for good luck."

Wondering if Hooter had caught on to her plans and arranged this, Gosalyn climbed up onto the handholds of the compartment and reached up and opened the emergency exit. Clambering out on top of the elevator, Goslayn looked around. She was somewhere between floors four and five, with five being the top most floor.

"Well, that's not so bad." Gosalyn said. "Won't have so far to climb."

Using the lighting from the battery-powered lights that had kicked in from the top of the elevator shaft, Gosalyn made her way towards a ladder and quickly began scrambling up it. As she went, various thoughts raced through her mind.

She wondered if Hooter had arranged this, and would have agents waiting to recapture her on the top floor. She wondered if she would be able to avoid capture long enough to at least prove that Megavolt and Negaduck were going to try and break into SHUSH.

But the thought of the duo made her ponder on something else. Maybe it was Megavolt and Negaduck that was responsible for this. Had they somehow found out that Gosalyn was here and would try to stop her? Or was it sheer chance that this happened, and Gosalyn still had the element of surprise?

Or was it something else altogether?

She reached the elevator doors for the fifth floor. Carefully stepping on the ledge next to the door, balancing precariously, she grasped the door's mechanism and pulled, until the doors slid open enough for Gosalyn to squeeze through. In the hallway beyond the door, it was almost pitch black, save for another battery powered emergency light at the end of the hallway.

That answered one thing. It was not Hooter that was behind the black-out, because he had no need to black-out the entire building, just to catch Gosalyn. This meant that it had to be someone, or something, else behind this peculiar power outage.

"Three guesses to see if you can guess what it is." Gosalyn muttered to herself, as she marched onward.

* * *

The power generator reduced to a charred and sparking mess, Negaduck brought his personally designed helicopter over a now darkened roof, coming to stop directly over the sunroof of a seemingly ordinary room.

"Release ropes." Negaduck ordered, switching on a spotlight, lighting up the sunroof.

Megavolt pulled a switch, and two ropes unraveled until their ends dangled just above the sunroof. "Done." Megavolt reported.

Negaduck switched on the auto-pilot so that the helicopter would keep hovering here, and both of the supervillains got out of their seats, and opened a side door on the helicopter.

"Make sure there are no back-up alarms to worry about on that sunroof, Megs." Negduck requested.

Megavolt nodded, and lowered himself onto the helicopter rudder, then onto one of the ropes, while Negaduck watched from the doorway, red and black cape swirling in the air vortex the spinning propeller blades the helicopter were producing.

Megavolt reached the end of the rope. Reaching down with one finger, he lightly touched the metal frame of the sunroof. Arches of electric energy raced through the metal frame, occasionally causing loud snaps and brief bursts of sparks. As quickly as it started, it ended, and Megavolt straightened up.

Negaduck suddenly slithered down the other rope next to Megavolt, holding his pistol.

"Let's rock and roll." he said.

He fired twice at the sunroof, cracks spreading through the glass, then stomped down on the pane, making it shatter. The two of them then slithered down the ropes into the room itself, dropping down onto the floor with a load thud.

They were in.

* * *

A floor below the action, Hooter and several agents burst into Hooter's office. Hooter surveyed the room over real quickly, not too incredibly surprised to see that it was empty.

He turned to the agents. "I want all the exits in and out of this building sealed off with two agents posted at every one." he ordered "Whoever's left start a sweeping search of the building, starting with this floor, working you're way down. Miss Mallard is going to try and escape, I know it."

The agents hurried off, leaving few behind. Hooter saw that one of the agents still in the room had a cell phone and asked if he could borrow it.

"Certainly director," the agent answered, handing it over, "But why?"

"I have a phone call I need to finish." Hooter answered, flipping the cell phone open and began dialing in the number.

He was interrupted by the sound of two loud bangs followed by a resounding crash and a loud thud. Everyone in the room looked upward.

An agent near Hooter, a feline with good hearing, said "Someone's broken into the lab directly upstairs from here through the sunroof. They are armed."

"'They?'" Hooter repeated, slightly surprised.

"There's two of them." the agent replied simply.

"Right, they're probably here to help Miss Mallard escape." Hooter said thoughtfully, "Everyone to the elevators!"

"But the elevators are down, sir!" the agent who had handed Hooter the cell phone said.

"Then to the stairs, people, the stairs!" Hooter exclaimed, leading the way. "Let's move!"

* * *

Gosalyn also heard the gunshots and the crash, and instantly changed course to intercept. She eventually came to a stop outside a seemingly ordinary office door, complete with a frosted pane of glass. An eerie glow of white light was being cast from within the room, and there was definitely someone moving around in there. She listened as she pulled out the gas gun and loaded it.

"Wow!" Megavolt exclaimed, as he looked around the little room at all the devices and gizmos it contained. "I could spend all day in here checking all this stuff out! Look at it all! Spy watches! Water-proof PDAs! Laser rifles! Self-sealing Ziploc bags! An Ion Generator! Even a miniature particle-accelerator! Oh, I'm in heaven!" he turned around and around, trying to take it all in at once. "What are we going to steal first, Negs?"

However, Negaduck ignored it all and made his way towards one object in particular. "None of it." he said. "Except for this."

It was a small, black container with a heavy metal lid. Negaduck unlatched it and pushed it to one side, peering inside at the contents inside with a slightly evil expression. Curious, Megavolt came over and peered inside as well.

"_This?_" Megavolt exclaimed, staring at the silver, gel-like substance inside the container. "This is what we came all this way for, went through all the trouble for, just for a box of goop?"

"Don't be fooled, Megavolt." Negaduck said darkly. "While it seems unsuspecting enough at a first glance, it is key to all of my plans for now, and in the future. And once it's activated, you'll have a very different view of it, I'm sure."

Megavolt scratched his head, staring at the odd substance. "So how do you activate it?" he asked.

"By merely touching it." Negaduck said, and extended one finger towards the gel.

It was at that moment that the door burst open.

"Forget it, Negs!" Gosalyn exclaimed, pointing the gas gun straight at the two criminals.

They both whirled around, taking defensive positions. Negaduck pulled out his pistol, while Megavolt held one hand forward, ready to release a chaotic storm of electric energy at Negaduck's signal. Megavolt seemed very surprised to see Gosalyn there, fully dressed in Darkwing's costume, as was Negaduck, but the surprise on his face slowly faded away and was quickly replaced with a sly grin, one that worried Gosalyn.

While keeping the gas gun trained on the two fugitives, Gosalyn closed the door behind her and locked it. "Drop the gun, Negaduck." Gosalyn ordered.

To her surprise, Negaduck obeyed, tossing it so that it landed in the middle of the room. Holding his hands up, he elbowed Megavolt to do the same, and puzzled, Megavolt did so. Gosalyn suspected that Negaduck expected her to move forward to the middle of the room, and additionally suspected a trap.

She instead move sideways, circling around the middle of the room. Negaduck and Megavolt moved likewise in the opposite direction, keeping their distance from Gosalyn. During all of this, Negaduck watched Gosalyn, still wearing his sly grin. Finally, Gosalyn stopped so that she stood next to the mysterious container of goo, and Negaduck and Megavolt stood across the room with their backs to the door.

Gosalyn knew they wouldn't try to escape that way, because they'd have to stop and unlock it, giving Gosalyn a chance to fire, plus, if they did escape that way, they probably wouldn't go far before they ran into a group of SHUSH agents. The only way for them to safely escape was back through the way they came in.

Silence fell for a moment, except for the soft sound of the Negacopter's twirling propeller blades, still quietly hovering over the broken sunroof.

Finally, Gosalyn spoke. "Really thought you could get away with this, Negaduck?" she said, hoping to buy time long enough to plan her next move.

"But of course." Negaduck said, adopting an elegant persona, "By all accounts, I am still public enemy number one. Who better to try and rob the SHUSH agency of their most valuable, not to mention powerful, gadget?"

"Keen _gear!_" Gosalyn exclaimed, slamming her empty hand down on the container behind her, annoyed at Negaduck's insolence. "Are you really so arrogant to believe that-ack!"

The conversation was brought to an abrupt halt, when it suddenly donned on Gosalyn that her fist didn't hit the side of the container like she planned, but rather struck the silver gel, the substance now spreading up her arm. Gasping in surprise, Gosalyn tried to pull her arm out, but the substance held it there, continuing to spread up and out of the container, scaling up her arm, completely ignoring physics as Gosalyn knew them.

Megavolt, knowing the importance of the substance to Negaduck, started to rush forward, alarmed, but Negaduck held him back. It was clear that he too was quite alarmed at this event, however.

As the substance started to spread across Gosalyn's chest, starting to slither up her neck, she desperately tried to rub the substance off, peel it off, anything that might get it off, but it stuck to her like superglue. The substance spread further, undeterred, wrapping around Gosalyn's body until all of the gel was out of the container and on her.

The gel then did something interesting. It slid down to her arms and formed gloves, and likewise went downward to Gosalyn's webbed feet and formed boots. It climbed up Gosalyn's head, avoiding her face, to form a kind of hood. The rest embedded itself into Darkwing's costume, turning it a shiny silver, even the hat, leaving the gas gun as the only thing uncovered.

As quickly as it began, it ended, leaving Gosalyn standing there in a shiny, silver, suit...


	14. The Silver Suit

Chapter 14

The Silver Suit

While Gosalyn stood shocked at the odd suit the gel had transformed into, Negaduck used it to his advantage and pounced on her. Knocking her back into the wall, he whipped her around and grabbed her by the arms. He then sat her down in a nearby chair, one that consequently had restraints built into it, and took her gas gun away.

Swooping down to pick up his pistol, he motioned to Megavolt. "Seal the door." he ordered. "SHUSH agents are going to try charging in here at any moment, I believe."

Meagvolt nodded, and rushed over to the door, turning his hand into an arch welder to melt the door to it's metal frame. Negaduck watched for a moment, then turned to Gosalyn, who was trying to squirm free of her restraints.

"You won't get away with this, Negaduck." Gosalyn challenged.

Negaduck nodded solemnly. "You're right, I won't." he admitted. "Because you're wearing the very thing I wanted to take."

"I don't see why you'd want to go around wearing goo." Gosalyn said, although she didn't mention that the goo didn't feel like goo anymore, but actually like some kind of fabric.

"There's always something you have to sacrifice to get what you want." Negaduck said, eyeing Gosalyn. "And I think what that suit can do far exceeds the sacrifice."

Gosalyn stared at the duck for a moment. "What _can_ this thing do?" Gosalyn asked, staring down at the silver suit. "Is it bulletproof, or is it something more than that?"

Negaduck grinned, but didn't answer. He turned and watched Megavolt work at finishing sealing the door for a moment. Gosalyn glared at him.

"I think I know you, don't I?" Negaduck suddenly began the conversation again, turning back around to face his prisoner.

Gosalyn fought at her restraints for a moment, before answering, "Maybe."

Negaduck grinned again. "Think you're clever, don't you?" he said. He studied Gosalyn for a moment. "You're that girl that used to follow Dipwing around, aren't you? Quiverwing Quack, if I do recall." he looked at Gosalyn's Darkwing attire that the gel had itself mimic. "Going for bigger things now, eh?" he inquired.

"Not because I wanted to." Gosalyn said.

Negaduck half grinned. "Liar." he said in a rather good humored manner.

Megavolt stepped up next to Negaduck. "Door's sealed, boss." he reported.

Negaduck nodded, but said nothing, rubbing the tip of his bill like he was deep in thought.

"Don't suppose you'd tell us who you're really are, will you?" Negaduck questioned.

Gosalyn gave him a stare she hoped spelled out _'is that a trick question?'_ Gosalyn knew very well that Negaduck knew exactly who she was, and knew more about her than Gosalyn cared he know. Negaduck had never acted upon that data in the past, though, and he was keeping up the image that he really didn't have that information because Megavolt was there, who was unaware that Negaduck really knew more than he was letting on.

Negaduck was pacing now, deep in thought. "Don't have much time." he muttered, glancing at his watch.

Megavolt was producing electric sparks with his fingers in an attempt to keep himself entertained. Gosalyn watched at them both, wondering what they'd do next.

Suddenly, without warning, the silence was broken when someone outside the room tried to open the door. Finding the doorknob locked, loud bangs followed as whoever it was tried to knock the door down. Someone wacked something against the door's window, trying to break it, but it merely cracked. Gosalyn suspected that it was shatterproof, which wouldn't surprise her, considering that this _was_ SHUSH.

"They're trying to break in!" Megavolt exclaimed unnecessarily.

"We knew they would." Negaduck said. "And we planned accordingly."

The attempts to break into the room lightened suddenly. Gosalyn realized they went to get something to aide them. Negaduck saw this too, and picked up the container that once held the gel.

"Time to go." he said. "You first, Megs."

Megavolt nodded and clambered up the rope into the Negacopter.

Negaduck stepped up to his rope and tugged on it, tucking the container under one arm, watching the door.

Suddenly, sparks flew around it's edge. Gosalyn realized they were trying to cut through the door in order to get in. Negaduck watched it idly for a moment like he was watching a Shakespearian play. Finally, he turned back to face Gosalyn.

"If you know what's good for you, you'll stay out of my way." Negaduck said.

Gosalyn glared at him. It was answer enough for Negaduck.

He shrugged. "Suit yourself, Gosalyn Mallard." he said, tauntingly, then scaled up the rope himself. The Negacopter's propeller blades began to whirl faster in preparation in flying off.

Gosalyn began struggling at her restraints again, knowing that if she let Negaduck escape and stay here, she'd be defeated once the SHUSH agents got a hold of her. She couldn't let Negaduck escape at all for that matter, otherwise she'd likely get defeated that way too. That only left one other choice.

Now, if only she could get free of these restraints...

Suddenly, the metal clamps holding both of her hands snapped, freeing them. Gosalyn barely noticed the odd event and quickly bent down and freed her feet. Hopping out of the chair and running forward, she grabbed one of the ropes as the Negacopter started to pull away from the roof.

The sparks around the door suddenly stopped. There was a moments pause, and then the door fell over with loud bang as two SHUSH agents kicked it aside. Seeing Gosalyn start to rise out of the room as the Negacopter started to fly off, they lunged at her in the attempt to grab her.

Gosalyn gasped and swung aside, so that both of the agents crashed to the ground. Gosalyn nearly swung into the wall, then back into the group of agents that were piling into the room, she swung back again, he feet bouncing twice off the edges of the broken sun roof, and then she was airborne, hanging above the roof of the SHUSH building as the Negacopter reoriented itself and began to fly away, gaining altitude.

Gosalyn heaved a sigh of relief, glad that she got away from at least one of her troubles for now...

* * *

Hooter paced while his agents cut at the sealed door, impatient, cell phone in one hand as he still tried to call Launchpad McQuack. He was approaching his tenth try; McQuack must have fallen asleep again.

"We're almost through, Director Hooter." an agent reported.

Hooter looked up. "Get ready then for a fight." he said. "Whoever is in there isn't going to give up easily."

The agents nodded and braced themselves. The two agents that had been cutting through the door suddenly stopped and stepped aside, indicating that they were done. Two other agents rushed forward and kicked at the door. It slid forward an inch, then tipped over with a loud clang.

Dangling in the middle of the room on a rope was Gosalyn Mallard. Hooter stepped forward, pointing, about to give the order to catch her, but there was no need. The two agents who had forced the door open rushed forward.

Gosalyn gave a yelp and swung the rope she dangled from away from the agents. They grabbed nothing but empty air and crashed to the floor. Gosalyn nearly swung into the far wall, then swung back towards the doorway, as the agents filed into the room. They attempted to grab her again, but they were all too closely grouped together and got in each others way.

Gosalyn swung back again, and it was then that Hooter realized that she and the rope were slowly rising. Gosalyn was know nearly out of the room. Her feet brushed against the edge of the shattered sunroof, then she was clear of the room. Hooter rushed forward to stand under the sunroof, staring upward.

His vision went past Gosalyn and up the helicopter she dangled from, instantly recognizing it, feeling a sensation of dread rush over him. The agents all around him began to all at once propose suggestions to the dilemma, but Hooter ignored them, watching the Negacopter adjust it's position and fly away.

The forgotten cell phone still pressed to Hooter's ear suddenly stopped ringing as the call got through.

"What does it take for a guy to get some sleep around here?" Launchpad asked, angrily, sounding very sleepy.

"Uh..." Hooter began, caught off guard. "Sorry, wrong number."

He hung up, catching the attention of a nearby agent.

"Sir?" he questioned, remembering what the director had planned to do originally.

"I changed my mind." Hooter explained simply. "Director's prerogative."

And with that, he walked out of the room, handing back the cell phone in the process.

* * *

Gosalyn watched the many skyscrapers of St. Canard begin to shrink in size as the Negacopter began to rise higher into the air, suddenly apprehensive about her choice.

"Just don't look down." Gosalyn suggested to herself, and instead looked upward at the Negacopter and began to climb up the rope.

It wasn't easy, and it was made even harder by the fact that the Negacopter was currently on the move. It didn't stop Gosalyn, and she climbed onward. She almost reached the top of the rope when a sudden gust of wind blew through, catching her off guard and she slipped. She slid back down to the end of the rope catching herself just in time.

It jerked the helicopter, and Gosalyn froze for a moment, wondering if the two supervillains had noticed.

They had.

Megavolt suddenly poked his head out of the Negacopter and peered down at Gosalyn, dangling from the rope.

"Status report, Mr. Megavolt." Negaduck could be heard calling.

"We've got a Cling-on, captain." Megavolt answered, playing along with their little game.

"Time for evasive maneuvers, then." Negaduck replied.

There was a long pause, then the rope Gosalyn hung onto suddenly disconnected itself from the Negacopter.

Gosalyn stared at the end of the rope hovering in empty space for a moment, long enough to utter an uh-oh, then started to fall. She watched in utter shock as the helicopter zoomed away, gradually shrinking in size itself, then remembered what was behind her. Turning over in mid air, she glanced downward to see all of St. Canard rushing up towards her.

It was then that she started to scream, and squeezed her eyes shut, awaiting the eventual impact.

But it never came.

* * *

"Woo hoo!" Megavolt whooped, watching Gosalyn vanish from sight. "We did it! Nothing can stop us now!"

He did a little jig in the back of the Negacopter.

"Don't be so sure." Negaduck said, quietly.

Megavolt paused in his celebration, and glanced at his leader. "What do you mean?"

"It was too easy." Negaduck said, simply.

He pulled on the controls and brought their craft into a banking turn, heading for their hideout, before adding, "She'll be back."

* * *

Gosalyn kept her eyes shut, even after realizing that she hadn't hit the ground yet, deciding that maybe she just hadn't allowed enough time to pass yet. But gradually in her panic, she became aware that she _wasn't_ falling anymore, that she couldn't feel the wind rushing past anymore. Darkwing's cape lay limp over her legs, unmoving.

Wondering what in the world was up, Gosalyn slowly opened one eye. Then the other. She saw the ground, about a foot below her. Something had stopped her fall.

"Okay, that's all good." Gosalyn said to herself. "But who's got me?"

She looked around her, and saw that _no one_ had her. She was hovering in midair, by _herself_. Nothing was holding her up.

Amazed, Gosalyn rolled around on her back, floating on air. Looking upward, she saw that the Negacopter was nowhere in sight. But that didn't concern her anymore. What did concern her was _how the heck was she doing this?_

She brought her feet down until she touched the ground and stood up. Solidly on the ground again, she glanced around. No one had seen the event. But it didn't tell her how it had happened.

She glanced down at the sliver suit she wore. Was it somehow behind this? Was that why Negaduck wanted it so badly?

She knew of only one why to find out. She had to get this suit off and try it again.

Once more, she pulled at the suit. It stretched, but refused to relinquish it's grip on her.

"Keen gear," she muttered as she struggled with the suit, "I wish I could get this-whoa!"

The silver suit suddenly turned into goo again and slid off Gosalyn like a natural liquid. It snaked it's way forward for a bit, away from Gosalyn, then reformed into a ball. Surprised, Gosalyn picked it up, studying it, bouncing it. It looked like a silver kickball. It bounced like a silver kickball, it even made that twanging sound that a kickball made when it bounced.

By all accounts, a kickball.

"Keen gear." Gosalyn murmured in amazement.

Suddenly, the ball melted again, wrapping around Gosalyn to reform the silver suit. Gosalyn stared at it for a moment, suddenly making the connection.

"I get it!" Goslayn said. "Every time I say keen gear-"

The suit melted again and this time reformed into a metal briefcase next to Gosalyn.

"-it turns the suit on and off." Gosalyn continued. She studied the briefcase with interest. "It must turn into ordinary things when it's deactivated to avoid suspicion." she noted.

She walked around and around the briefcase for several moments before checking the time. It was nearly dawn, the night nearly gone, and risking her cover. Grabbing the briefcase, she made her way for the Audubon Bay Bridge, wondering what Honker was going to think of this new development.


	15. Honker's Theory

Chapter 15

Honker's Theory

Gosalyn found herself pacing her bedroom once again, and noticed this was rapidly becoming a habit. This time, however, it was for less dire condition. She was simply waiting for Honker to return from a dentist appointment. It was only after then that they both could study the silver suit she had obtained in detail.

She had wanted to do it immediately after she had returned to Darkwing Tower, but returned to find that Honker had fallen asleep in the time she was gone. Realizing how tired she was too, she changed back into her usual clothes, and then carefully took Honker back to her house where she woke him up enough so that he could travel back to his house, and they both slept in late the following morning.

Gosalyn's sleep was rudely interrupted when Launchpad, who had also slept in thought not nearly as long, arrived with breakfast. Quickly eating it, Gosalyn then called Honker's house to invite him over so that they could work last night's events, only to find that Honker had left with his mother to the dentist only five minutes earlier.

Now it was nearing lunchtime, and, in addition to her worry that they wouldn't get a chance to meet today, which was possibly the only chance they'd get, she was also feeling hungry, craving for an extra large pizza with everything on it and some extra cheese for good measure.

Finally, she saw the Muddlefoot's mini-van pull up into their driveway, and watched long enough to see Honker hop out before exiting her bedroom. Racing down the stairs, she looked for Launchpad, and finally found him in the dining room, eating lunch.

"Honker's going to come over." she announced quickly, and before waiting for an answer, raced to the front door.

Throwing it open, she cut across her yard into the Muddlefoot's yard, heading straight for her neighbor's front door. She rang the doorbell, not once, not twice, but three times, to announce to everyone within that it was urgent. It was Honker who answered the door, who looked like he had been in the process of taking off his shoes to stay awhile.

"Hi Honk, ready to chat about last night?" she said rapidly.

"Uh, actually, I was going to get..." Honker began, but was cut off when Gosalyn grabbed Honker's hand and dragged him out the door.

"Great, let's go!" she said, racing back for her house.

"Um, ok." Honker answered simply.

He allowed himself be dragged into Gosalyn's bedroom. Gosalyn quickly closed the door, and closed the curtains. Opening her closet, she pulled out the silver suitcase, dragging it into the middle of the room. Then, she stepped back so that Honker could see.

"Keen gear!" she exclaimed.

As Honker watched with amazement, the suitcase melted into a puddle that wormed it's way towards Gosalyn, and then wrapped around her to reform the silver suit, this time shaped to mimic the Gosalyn's day clothes.

"Whoa!" Honker said, quickly stepping forward to examine the suit. "Where did you find this?"

"At SHUSH." Gosalyn said, and quickly summarized her encounter with Negaduck there.

Honker, meanwhile, took out some tweezers, and with some effort, managed to get a sample of the silver gel that composed the suit and began pulling out various items to examine it from his backpack.

"And it does this every time you say 'keen gear?'" Honker asked, placing the sample under a microscope.

Gosalyn nodded, avoiding repeating the phrase herself. "I think it's because I said it almost at the same time I touched the stuff to activate it." she theorized. "And so now it thinks of the phrase as a kind of password to activate and deactivate."

"Kinda like Gizmoduck's own suit, I've heard." Honker noted. He squinted into the microscope for a few seconds. "Whatever this suit is made out of, though, I've never seen it before."

"That's probably why it's at SHUSH." Gosalyn said. "The material is likely classified."

"Well, I do know it's synthetic." Honker said. "It has a very odd structure to it. If I had a stronger microscope, I could possibly figure out why." he pulled out a Geiger counter and started waving it over the sample. "It's slightly radioactive." he announced, surprised. "Towards the far end of the electromagnetic spectrum. Probably gamma radiation."

"Isn't that dangerous?" Gosalyn asked, worried.

"Potentially." Honker admitted. "However, I think that if it was going to harm you, we would have already seen evidence of it by now."

"Like that really reassures me." Gosalyn muttered.

"I'm not surprised though." Honker said. "The molecules probably would have to be unstable in order to shift from form to form so quickly like that."

Gosalyn frowned and stared at the silver glove the substance had formed over her hand. "Negaduck said that the abilities of this suit outweigh it's drawbacks. There must be something more to it than meets the eye." she said.

"It's ability to change forms like that on it's own it pretty outstanding in itself." Honker said. "But you're right, this _is_ Negaduck we're talking about. The suit _has_ to have some kind of greater purpose."

"It does." Gosalyn said, making a connection. "Honk, I think this suit gives you superhuman abilities!" and she went on to explain what happened _after _her encounter with Negaduck.

Honker was awestruck. "I think you're right." he said, amazed. "That could explain the radioactivity. It's there to stimulate the abilities, in this case levitation."

"Just like in the comics." Gosalyn said.

"But how do we know for sure?" Honker asked.

"I suppose I can try and make it happen again." Gosalyn said, and jumped, with the idea to make herself hover mid-jump.

Nothing happened, however, so she tried again. And again. Finally on the third time, something _did _happen. Only not what she expected. Like the times before, she jumped up, and then came back down again. Only when her feet should've connected with the floor, they didn't. Instead they passed right _through_ the floor like it really wasn't there.

The next thing Gosalyn knew was that she was falling straight through her bedroom floor and into the kitchen below, consequently right over the spot Launchpad sat eating lunch. Gasping, Gosalyn braced herself for impact, but it didn't come. Looking around herself, she saw that she had stopped her fall, and was levitating directly above Launchpad, who hadn't noticed anything out of the ordinary.

Gosalyn held her breath, wanting to get back up into her bedroom. Suddenly she started floating upwards slowly until she bumped into the ceiling. Gosalyn looked at it, pressing herself against the surface. Apparently she couldn't get herself to do whatever it was that made her fall through the floor in the first place again.

She tried ramming the ceiling, then flinching at the soft thump that made. She froze when she saw Launchpad stop eating for a moment, then looked upward above him. Gosalyn thought for sure that Launchpad would see her and demand an explanation, if he overcame the shock. But all Launchpad did was shrug and return to his lunch.

Gosalyn stared at the pilot, bewildered, wondering what had happened. A weird thought then came to her, and she looked at her hand. She wasn't too incredibly surprised to see that it wasn't there. The suit apparently allowed her to turn invisible too.

But as quickly as it had happened, her hand reappeared again. Gosalyn realized it wasn't going to be that easy. The suit may grant her these abilities, but she couldn't control them. For all she knew, she might lose control over the levitation and fall. What she needed was Launchpad out of the way.

Like someone had read her thoughts, the doorbell rang, and Launchpad stood and exited the room to go answer it. The moment he exited the room, Gosalyn fell with a crash onto the dinner table. Rolling off with a groan, she stood up, listening.

"Hiya neighbor!" Gosalyn heard Herb Muddlefoot's voice carry in from the front door, "Got some Quackerware yeh might be interested in!"

There was a pause as Launchpad examined the Quackerware in question. "Sure Herb, just let me get my wallet, and I'll pay you. It's just in the kitchen, shouldn't be long." he said.

"Uh-oh." Gosalyn muttered, caught sight of the back door and quickly slipped out it, just narrowly missing Launchpad entering the room.

Now in the backyard, Gosalyn wondered how she was going to get back in her room now. she tried using the suit's levitation properties, but it refused to respond. Finally, Gosalyn pulled out a ladder from the garage and used it climb back onto the roof. From there, she rather idly wandered over to her bedroom window and peered inside. Honker was on all fours, rubbing the floor, undoubtably wondering how Gosalyn fell through the seemingly solid surface.

Gosalyn knocked on the window to get his attention. He looked up, jumped in surprise to see Gosalyn, and quickly opened the window.

"Gosalyn!" he exclaimed, as Gosalyn climbed into her bedroom. "What happened?"

"I fell through the floor." Gosalyn answered. "Nearly landed on Launchpad! It's a miracle he didn't notice!"

"But _how?_" Honker asked. "It goes against all the laws of physics for that to happen!"

"All I know that the suit is behind it!" Gosalyn said. "I don't care _how_ it works, but what I _do _know is that we've got to keep this suit away from Negaduck!" she flopped down into a nearby chair, weary from the strain of it all.

Honker was still amazed at the suit's abilities. "Levitation, phasing, invisibility..." he shook his head, "and that's only the powers we _know_ of! Who knows what else this suit can do? That suit, I'm theorizing, is what SHUSH thought as the ultimate device, one that could be used offensively and defensively, a device that could easily be used for bad as good. No wonder Negaduck wants it, and no wonder it was being stored in a rather unlikely place to keep it. To try and draw attention away from it. SHUSH was trying to keep it safe. And yet, Negaduck almost got away with stealing it, and if he ever does, there goes the world as we know it!"

"Keen gear." she muttered, dazed, somewhat accidently and somewhat on purpose, watching the silver suit melt off of her and reform into an empty water jug. "To think this all began because I was simply looking for Dad."

Honker watched Gosalyn silently for several moments, understanding Gosalyn's frustration. "You've done you're best." Honker pointed out.

"But I'm afraid that's all I've got." Gosalyn said. "Sure, that super suit gives me the huge advantage because of the superpowers it gives me, but I can't control them! What good are they if I can't control them?" she sighed, rubbing her forehead. "I need help, Honk." she said. "Negaduck goal is to get this suit, and if we can keep it away from him for that long, there isn't much he's going to do." she paused for a moment. "I think it's time to focus on finding my Dad again, Honker." she announced.

"Does that mean..." Honker began, cautiously.

"Yes." Gosalyn said. "We're going to search Dad's office."

* * *

Quietly walking down the stairs, Gosalyn and Honker stopped at the door leading into Drake Mallard's office, listening to their surroundings. Launchpad and Herb were in the other room, chatting about the rat problem that the Muddlefoot's had in their basement. Cautiously, Gosalyn pulled out a hairpin, and stuck it into the door's lock. After probing the pin into various portions to the lock, she got it to open with a soft click.

Slowly, she opened the door, and slipped inside. Honker followed, then, after giving one last glance to make sure the coast was clear, closed the door behind them.

The office was very cluttered, and was starting to gather dust due to lack of use. Lining one wall where three bookcases placed side by side to each other, and were filled to the brim with various books. Near the perpetually curtained window stood an easel with a half finished painting sitting upon it. Next to it was a worktable were various devices, gizmos, and tools sat and along the other wall was a very cluttered desk, still having the materials from Darkwing's last case on it.

"What do you suppose we're looking for?" Gosalyn asked softly, like she feared talking loudly would reveal that she was in the office.

"Could be anything." Honker admitted. "I suppose we'll have to search it all and see."

He started flipping through Drake's books. Gosalyn went over to the worktable, and carefully looked around at the items on it, looking for clues, being sure to put everything back exactly as she had found it, afraid that if she didn't, Drake would know that she was in here, forgetting that didn't matter right now.

Honker moved on to the cluttered desk, and began sifting through the various case files that had been left, abandoned, upon it.

"What's this?" he suddenly said out loud.

Gosalyn flinched at the sound of his voice, like it was too loud. She turned to see what it was he was referring to, and saw that he had a photograph of an old office building, one that still stood today on the other side of town.

"It's that building that finance company used to own." Gosalyn explained softly. "About two weeks before Darkwing vanished, he investigated a robbery there. Turned out an employee there was trying to cheat the company of their profits."

"I know all that." Honker said. "It's labeled."

He moved his fingers so that Gosalyn could see the sticky note that was attached to the front of the picture.

"What I was talking about, is what is written on the back." Honker explained, and he flipped the photograph over so that Gosalyn could see.

Gosalyn stared at it in the dim light, then walked up to Honker and took the picture from him. Written on the back, was:

"_August 31__st__, 1995 11:35 pm_

_-odd lights on at night_

_-source of trouble makers_

_-investigate immediately_"

Honker pointed at the date. "That's the night Darkwing disappeared." he pointed out. "And, it's two weeks _after_ the case this photo concerns was solved."

Gosalyn reread the message again.

"I think this is the clue you've been looking for, Gos." Honker went on. "When Darkwing says to investigate immediately, I think he's referring to you."

Gosalyn turned the photo over again. "But what does it mean?" she asked.

"Isn't obvious?" Honker asked. "Darkwing is telling you want you need to know, what you need to look for, and how quickly to do it."

Gosalyn stared at the photo. "I can't believe it's that simple." she said. She paused long enough to think. "We've go check it out tonight, both of us. I'll take the super suit with just to be safe. Tonight, Honk, we'll hopefully have the answers."

She stared at the photo, shaking her head at the thought that it was so simple. "Keen gear." she muttered softly.

Suddenly, she turned to the window, alarmed.

"Gosalyn?" Honker inquired, curious.

"I thought I saw..." Gosalyn began, but then trailed off. "Never mind, I must have imagined it."

"Well, what did you _think_ you saw?" Honker asked.

Gosalyn turned to face him. "A shadow." she said. "And it looked oddly familiar..."


	16. The Aqueous Solution

For those of you who don't know, an aqueous solution in chemistry is, put simply, something dissolved in water. The key part for this chapter, though, is the water part. ;)

Chapter 16

The Aqueous Solution

Elsewhere in St. Canard, Megavolt sat at the hideout, studying the numerous blueprints of the St. Canard supervillain prison that Negaduck had, not having much of anything else better to do.

Negaduck was elsewhere, specifically where, Megavolt didn't know. Negaduck said he had business to attend to, and that was all. Megavolt, however, suspected that the supervillain just needed to let off some steam, and went somewhere to do it inconspicuously. Just as well, because that meant Megavolt wouldn't be on the receiving side of that anger management session. He thought for sure he was going to get it when that quack of a Darkwing walked off with the prize.

Although Negaduck was certain that the game wasn't over yet, and that there was still aways to go before someone emerged victorious, it was clear to Megavolt that Negaduck didn't really know what to do next except to wait. Megavolt didn't have any suggestions, so he was trying to pass the time entertaining himself, and he was doing it by studying these plans of the supervillain prison, just in case he should ever end up there again.

Little did he know that he'd find a something even better to do.

He was studying the plans intently still when Negaduck returned, fuming slightly. "Well, I was right, Megs." he announced, climbing into the cockpit of the Negacopter for a moment, "The game isn't done yet, but we'll have to wait until tonight before it picks up in speed again. And there's one very big problem with that."

"What's that?" Megavolt asked idly, his attention on the plans before him.

"_I hate waiting!_" Negaduck roared.

He placed something in a drawer in the cockpit, then climbed out again, coming to stand behind Megavolt.

"What are you doing?" he asked, sounding annoyed.

"Well, I felt like that in case everything should go wrong and we end up in jail, not that I'm saying that we will, Negs," Megavolt said, "I thought I should get a good idea how that supervillain prison works and work out an easy escape route. However, after much studying, I realized..."

"Get to the point already, Megs." Negaduck growled.

"I found something for us to do to past the time." Megavolt quickly summed it up.

Negaduck seemed intrigued by this. "Like what?" he asked bluntly, rasing one eyebrow and unfolding his arms.

"We break the rest of the gang out of jail." Megavolt said.

Negaduck glared at his companion for a moment. "How so?" he inquired. "The only way I saw I could easily get the others out of jail besides you was with SHUSH's super suit, which, I remind you, _we don't have!_"

"True, all of it true." Megavolt agreed. "And at first I thought the same thing. But then I noticed this."

He pulled out one page of the blueprints and laid them out in front of Negaduck. He pointed at the drainage pipe that ran under Megavolt's cell. "This pipe," Megavolt explained, "runs under more than just that one cell I was in. Parts of it also go under Quackerjack's cell and Liki's cell."

"I know this." Negaduck said, frustrated. "But the locations are all wrong for both of them. The only place to drill a hole into either of their cells is right in plain sight of the guards, and there would be no way to make one big enough without anybody noticing, and there would be no way to get them anything to assist them in getting out."

"You're right." Megavolt agreed. "But it's only with Quackerjack's cell that we can't do anything. We have a great window of opportunity with Liki's cell."

Negaduck shook his head. "Megs, how can _you_ possibly find a solution to something someone twice as smart as you couldn't find?" he asked, more annoyed now.

"Because there is one thing factor we have that you didn't take into consideration." Megavolt explained. "Because you didn't have it until after you broke me out of jail."

"So you have it."

"Yes." Megavolt answered, nodding. "Look, the plan's simple. We break Liki out, and he'll cause a great uproar with the guards, drawing their attention away from the rest of the prison. _Then_ we can go back and free Quackerjack while his guards aren't looking while Liki frees Bushroot."

"You must have _lost it, _Megavolt." Negaduck said grumpily. "_How_ are we supposed to free The Liquidator?"

"By lowering the cell's electric field, thereby opening the cell for Liki to escape." Megavolt answered simply.

"And how do we do that?"

Megavolt didn't answer, but instead held up one hand. He sent an electrical current through it, forming an arch of electric energy jumping from the tip of his pointer finger to his thumb, forming a white-hot bolt. Negaduck stared at it for a few moments. Then he suddenly understood Megavolt's plan, and grinned wickedly...

* * *

The Liquidator was bored senseless. There was nothing to do here. He was never allowed out of his cell, and all it had was a single bed, one that Liki didn't really need. He didn't need anything else to stay alive in this cell either, like a sink or toilet, which was one reason why they weren't here. But the bigger reason was that Liki could use such devices to escape.

And that was the last thing the people in this jail wanted him to do. And since Liki wanted nothing but to escape, and had no means of doing so, he was bored senseless.

He sat on the bed, head held in one arm, watching the water that made up his body swirl around and around. He eyed the guards at stood at attention outside the cell's electric field, covering up the only exit. They eyed him back. Liki shrugged, looking away. He wished the two guards would speak, because then maybe he have at least someone to chat with. However, he couldn't remember the guards _ever_ saying anything.

Liki suddenly frowned, staring at the puddle of water that perpetually gathered at his feet. It was rippling. Which meant the floor was vibrating. Liki pondered on this, wondering why the floor was vibrating. He then heard a soft whirring noise, coming from one side of the cell. He turned to stare at it's source, listening to it slowly growing louder.

The guards heard it too, and likewise stared at it's source, wondering what they should do, and if there was cause for alarm. As the sound grew louder, Liki suddenly realized that someone was drilling in, but doing so in complete disregard of stealth. Liki frowned again. What would that gain him?

Finally, the tip of a drill bit poked through into the cell, right in the center of where the back wall joined with the floor. The drill stopped for a moment, then receded, leaving a very small hole.

Liki heard one of the guards activate a call for back-up on his walkie-talkie. Liki ignored it, more interested in the hole in his cell, just big enough for a finger to fit through. He was considering if he could quickly revert to full liquid form and slip down the hole when a finger did force it's way through the hole.

The single finger felt around in it's surroundings for a bit, touching the metal floor. The finger suddenly stopped for a moment, pressing it's tip against the floor. Suddenly, the floor came alive with surging electricity, racing all over the wall and floor of the cell, causing sparks and the occasional arch of energy.

Liki idly watched it, like he really wasn't interested. The guards took a step back, surprised. Finally, the electricity reached the electric field. It flared once, then suddenly overloaded and shut off.

Silence fell.

The guards stared at The Liquidator. The Liquidator stared back, head still in his hand, looking like he didn't have a care in the world.

But this impression changed when suddenly Liki grinned darkly.

Standing up, he slowly started walking out of the cell. The guards reacted quickly, pulling out their pistols and opening fire. But the bullets simply zipped through Liki, each with a small splash, and struck the opposite wall. Finally, Liki crossed the threshold of the cell, finally exiting it's restricting shielding for the first time in seven years, and stopped in front of the terrified guards, still grinning darkly.

"In the immortal words of a friend of mine," The Liquidator began, "It's playtime."

Then, Liki heard the guards speak for the first time, by screaming in horror as Liki transformed into wave of water, washing them away, quickly being joined by more water as every pipe in the prison simultaneously burst.

The prison instantly beginning to flood, the guards ran for shelter, all knowing there was little they could do to fight against this living liquid. Liki spread out in all directions showing no mercy, having the time of his life. Literally having his body all other the place at once, he could hear multiple things at once.

He paused long enough to hear Megavolt's voice say from somewhere, "Liki, go free Bushroot. Leave the rest to us."

Liki did not question it, knowing exactly who "us" was. So he traveled down the hallways, flooding them as he went. Turning around a corner in the hallway, he saw that a large group of guards had gathered in the way, and upon seeing Liki approaching, they opened fire with a wide variety weaponry, ranging from pistols to a flame thrower.

Liki continued on, unfazed, the bullets simply flying through him and the flame thrower merely evaporating the water, which didn't hurt Liki in the slightest. Liki waved one arm, creating a massive wave of water, and sent it hurtling towards the barricade of guards. It washed them all away, extinguishing the flame thrower.

Liki rode the wave like a skateboard until it passed a sparkling electric field. He jumped off the wave, letting it continue on without him, landing in ankle deep water in front of the field. On the other side was Bushroot, a sickly pale green color, with shriveling leaves. The mutant plant-duck looked up at Liki weakly, giving a grin of hope.

Liki studied the electric field that divided them, then grinned again.

"Do not add water." he taunted, then transformed into a wave of water himself and rammed the weaker field. It sparkled, overloaded, then shut off, flooding Bushroot's cell with water.

"Wee!" Bushroot yelled, soaking up the water through his root-like feet, rapidly gaining energy and returning to his usual dark green pallor already, as he splashed playfully around in the water he had been denied for so long.

"Doctors recommend drinking ten ounces of water per day." Liki remarked, reforming into usual self, "So drink up!"

"Liki!" Bushroot yelled, running up to hug the liquid dog, only to splash right through.

"Never mind, prepare for the ride of your life!" Liki exclaimed, and the water level in the prison rose rapidly, then suddenly started surging out.

Bushroot was carried out with it, yelling like he was riding a roller coaster , soaking up the joy and the water along the way.

Above ground, the St. Canard police station swelled, then it's front doors and various windows burst open, releasing a flood of water in all directions, up and down the street. Yelling with excitement, Bushroot and Liquidator exited the building on the tale end of the wave, skidding to a halt in the middle of the road, while several spectators on the street began running away in terror at the sight of the supervillains.

As Liki finished reforming into his usual dog-like form, he and Bushroot heard the whirring of a helicopter, and looked up in time to see the Negacopter descend down on them.

"Get in." Negaduck called from the pilot's seat. "We have business to attend to."

The Negacopter landed long enough for Liki and Bushroot to climb, reunite themselves with Negaduck, Megavolt, and Quackerjack who had been liberated in the process by Negaduck and Megavolt, then was airborne again.

The police quickly gathered their forces and opened fire upon the helicopter, but did little damage to the aircraft as it went out of range, soaring over St. Canard. Then, finally reunited for the first time in over seven years, Negaduck laid out their newest plan as they returned to their hideout...


	17. The Meeting

Some important thing revealed in this chapt., with more to come in the next chapt. ;)

Chapter 17

The Meeting

That night in the tower, Gosalyn slipped on Darkwing's costume over her own clothing, while Honker watched.

"Gos, I have a bad feeling about this." he said.

"Don't be silly, Honker." Gosalyn said. "This is a good idea. This is how we're going to find out, once and for all, what happened to my dad. I just know it!" She put on Darkwing's hat, adjusting it while she studied her reflection in a mirror.

"I wish I shared your confidence." Honker admitted.

"And don't you?" Gosalyn asked, eyeing Honker's reflection in the mirror.

"I'm not really sure." Honker admitted. "By all accounts, I agree that this is the most logical course of action, but at the same time, I get this feeling that this is the worse possible mistake we could make."

"Honker, the building has been abandoned for five years now, you said so yourself." Gosalyn said.

"That's what it _looks _like, we don't know that it's really completely abandoned." Honker said.

"There's a certain amount of risk to this, yes." Gosalyn admitted. "But you can't go through life without it. And, that's why we're taking the super suit with." she paused before adding, "Keen gear."

A water jug set on the floor nearby transformed into a blob of molten silver gel at the sound of Gosalyn's voice, and inched it's way to Gosalyn, scaling up her body to reform into the mysterious SHUSH super suit.

"You don't know how to control that suit." Honker pointed out.

"Not completely." Gosalyn admitted. "But the suit seems to be able to react on it's own if need be. I'm counting on the fact that it will. Besides, the thing is probably bullet-proof or something like that, and thus just wearing it will provide protection."

"There's a lot of unknowns in that sentence." Honker pointed out. "Gos, I really think you should hold off doing this until we know more about the building and that super suit. If I could just have some extra time to..."

"Time is one thing we don't have, Honk!" Gosalyn exclaimed suddenly, turning on him. "Right now, Negaduck and Megavolt are out there doing who knows what to this town, and if the rumors that I've heard going around are true, it could already be worse than that! There is no _way_ we'll be able to hold them off on our own forever! We need help, and this is the best chance we've got of getting the expert _himself_ back into the mix of things!"

She glared at Honker for a moment, then sighed. "Besides, we've come this far, I don't want to have to turn back or postpone it any longer." she said softly, a huge contrast to her yelling just seconds earlier, "Seven years without dad has been seven years too long."

Honker just watched her, unsure what he should do or say. Gosalyn stared down at her gloved hands, looking slightly sad. "Honk, when dad disappeared, I swore off ever getting involved with superhero work ever again. One reason was because that it didn't seem right without dad, and two, it simply reminded me of the pain of losing dad in the first place." she said. "After making that choice, I never thought I would get mixed up in it again. But now that I'm actually doing it, I've realized just how much I've missed it, and what it meant for me altogether."

She turned back to the mirror, staring at her reflection. "My life has always been rough, more rough than it should be for anyone" she continued. "After losing both my parents and Grandpa and ending up in that orphanage, at times it was almost too much to bear. I assumed I was simply on my own now, and that it would always be that way, and as such, I was convinced I wouldn't ever need anyone again."

"Then Darkwing came along, and somehow, that all changed." Gosalyn said. "Going on missions to save the day twice a week was not only fun, but it also gave me a sense of purpose, a sense of well-being, and with Darkwing, a sense of family togetherness." she chuckled. "Forcing myself out of the superhero biz was probably the worse thing I could do. I see that now. And now we've got two-thirds of that back now. Might as well go all the way and the get the remaining one-third."

Honk was silent for a moment. "I never really thought that something like this was your way of staying happy." he admitted. "I mean sure, I knew you liked it, but I didn't think it was so important to you."

"So you admit that we need to do this." Gosalyn said, turning back to face him again.

"No, I still have a bad feeling about it." Honker admitted. "But I hope I'm wrong."

Gosalyn grinned, "I hope you're wrong too, Honk." she said comfortingly.

* * *

A short while later, they were zipping along the streets of St. Canard on the Ratcatcher, with Gosalyn driving, and with Honker in the sidecar, wearing a mask just to be safe. They rode in silence, having said everything that needed to be said. They arrived at the building in question shortly there after.

Gosalyn looked it up and down. It was in fair condition, considering it had been abandoned for so long. There were no lights on, however, which, Gosalyn remembered, was on the list of things Darkwing wanted investigated in his note. Had the supposed troublemakers Darkwing mentioned moved on to somewhere else?

Gosalyn decided that even if they had, it would be a good idea to search the premise for clues. Stepping off the Ratcatcher while Honker watched from the side car, she walked up to the front door, and tried to open it. But it was locked, with a padlock and chain. Gosalyn thought about breaking in, but decided that maybe it would be better to find another way in.

She walked around to the back of the building and tried it's back door, but it was locked as well. Frowning, Gosalyn stepped back, surveying the building again, thinking. As she did, Honker turned up next to her.

"So now what?" he asked.

Gosalyn eyes found a ladder, and followed them up to the roof of the building. "There's probably a way in on the roof." she said, and started up the ladder. "C'mon Honker."

Honker, however, remained rooted to the spot. "Um, that seems pretty high up." he said, frightened.

"Only five or so stories." Gosalyn said unconcerned, and kept climbing.

"But-but, I'm not that fond of heights Gosalyn." Honker said, trembling now.

"Fine, stay there then." Gosalyn said. "Someone better stay with the Ratcatcher and keep guard anyway. I'll call ya if I need you."

Honker didn't protest, and headed off for the front of the building again. Gosalyn kept climbing at a steady rate, unfazed by the rapidly increasing height. On the roof, it was oddly barren, void of much of anything, expect for a single vent and a small structure with a door on it that probably lead to a staircase.

She tried the door, and wasn't surprised to find it locked. She decided that now she had no choice but to break in now, and that this door was probably the best place to do it, where it was less likely to draw attention. Pulling out a lock picking kit from Darkwing's costume, she went to work a picking the lock. After a moment, there was a soft click as the door unlocked, and grinning triumphantly, swung the door open.

"Good evening, Gosalyn." said a figure on the other side of the door, blocking the staircase beyond. "I've been waiting for you."

Gosalyn recoiled backwards in surprise. "Negaduck!" she exclaimed.

The villain grinned, and stepped out into the roof, swinging the door shut behind him. There was a soft click as it locked itself again.

"How did you know I was here?" Gosalyn asked, keeping her distance.

Negaduck shrugged. "I have my sources." he said. "However, I believe you have something I want."

He gestured to the silver suit Gosalyn wore.

"You can't have it." Gosalyn stated. "This suit is far too powerful for the likes of you to have."

"So I see you've already figured out what that suit can do." Negaduck said. "And why I would want it."

"And you won't get it." Gosalyn threatened. "Not while I'm around."

"But you're inexperienced." Negaduck pointed out. "That was proven back at SHUSH."

"I got the suit away from you though." Gosalyn pointed out.

"True." Negaduck said, and took a step towards Gosalyn. Gosalyn began backing up. "And I will grant that wasn't planned. But everything else was, and just like then, you're playing straight into my hands."

Gosalyn frowned, worried, still backing up as Negaduck stepped closer.

"I know why you're here, Gos." Negaduck said. "You're looking for Darkwing."

Gosalyn didn't bother trying to deny it. "You won't stop me." she said.

"I though you would say that." Negaduck said, "I would only expect the same from my own Gosalyn."

Gosalyn didn't like how Negaduck said that. "What's that supposed to mean?" she asked.

"Nothing that concerns you." Negaduck said. "But back down to business."

"I don't parley with the villain." Gosalyn said. She was still backing up, and Negaduck was still stepping closer.

"You have no choice." Negaduck insisted. "And you know it."

Gosalyn didn't answer.

Negaduck took a breath, then switched personalities. "Here's what I propose." he said, reminded Gosalyn of a businessman. "You give me that suit, and stop looking for Darkwing, and I'll let you go free."

"In your dreams." Gosalyn muttered.

"The best offer I can give you." Negaduck said. "Besides, you should've know that when you figured out to come here to this building that it wouldn't be without a price."

"How did you..." Gosalyn began to ask, but then trailed off. "The shadow." she said.

Negaduck grinned. "I like you Gosalyn, you're very smart." he said. "More than Darkwing ever was. And to think he thought that sending you here to unravel the mystery of his disappearance would work." he made a tutting noise before continuing. "Definitely not the brightest bulb in the store, Darkwing."

"Like you're any smarter." Gosalyn remarked. She backed up to the edge of the roof, and quickly turned to start backing away from the roof. Negaduck turned to follow so that his back faced the edge.

"Smarter than Darkwing." Negaduck said. "That's why he ended up where he did."

Gosalyn suddenly froze. "You know where he is, don't you?" she asked.

Negaduck stopped, and grinned. "Darkwing has been excellent company." he said. "Speaks of you often."

"You!" Gosalyn shouted. "You're behind his disappearance!"

"My greatest achievement, yes." Negaduck said.

"Why you little..." Gosalyn began, preparing to charge Negaduck.

"Now, now, Gosalyn," Negaduck said, pulling out his pistol and waving it airily. "I really don't want to have to hurt you."

"Why not?" Gosalyn asked venomously, "You've undoubtably hurt Darkwing."

"Maybe." Negaduck said. "But I assure you, Drake is alive, and just fine."

"Darkwing, Negs." Gosalyn corrected.

"No need, I know who he really is, and you know it." Negaduck said. "Might as well be on a first name basis now."

"Fat chance."

"Suit yourself." Negaduck said. "_Darkwing_'s health, however, depends on you being willing."

"Why kidnap him, though, if you didn't plan on killing him?" Gosalyn asked. "Why keep him alive for seven years?"

"Where's the fun in that?" Negaduck asked. "Besides, I didn't plan on kidnaping him then anyway, but he, like you, played right into my hands, and I was going to have to do it sooner or later anyway."

"You've been planning this for that long?" Gosalyn asked.

"That long, all eight years." Negaduck said. "And everything has been running smoothly, except for you."

"So you're going to try and kidnap me, now?" Gosalyn asked.

"If it comes to it, but I hope not."

"I'm not going to settle for anything less."

"I figured you might." Negaduck said. "For which I am prepared, but I really think that I will not need to take such drastic measures."

"Says you." Gosalyn stated

"Yes," Negaduck agreed, "Says me."

Gosalyn glared at him for a very long time. "Why did you capture Darkwing?" she asked finally.

"Why else?" Negaduck asked. "To keep him out of my way."

"But you weren't expecting me to step in, did you?" Gosalyn asked next.

"Not so drastically, no, but I should've seen it coming." Negaduck said. "You always did have quite a bit of...spirit."

Gosalyn frowned at that. "Where is Darkwing, Negs?" she asked finally, almost demanding it.

"Where else?" Negaduck asked back, like the answer was obvious.

Gosalyn opened her beak to say more, but slowly closed again without saying anything, realizing just what Negaduck was implying. Her expression must have shown it, because Negaduck grinned.

"That's right Gos." he said, tauntingly, "He's in the Negaverse."


	18. Trickery

Things turn for the worse...

Chapter 18

Trickery

Gosalyn stared at Negaduck for a long period of time. "How did you..." she began to say.

"...get back into the Negaverse?" Negaduck finished. "That's my little secret. It's not important that you know the details anyway."

"Let's suppose it was." Gosalyn inquired.

"I still wouldn't tell you." Negaduck said. "I may monolog a lot, but I know when not to."

"You..." Gosalyn said, trying to think of something to say that would express her hatred at the moment, but then decided actions spoke better then words and swung a punch at the duck.

Negaduck stepped backwards and deftly grabbed Gosalyn's fist as it swung past his face. His airy personae that he had adopted throughout this conversation suddenly ended.

"You're biting off more than you can chew, Gosalyn." He growled, holding tightly to Gosalyn's arm, "That was another problem Darkwing had. When he fell into that river on August 31st, 1995, he unknowingly stumbled upon witnessing one of the key parts of my plan. He could've walked away from it and remain safe, but no, he confronted me about it." he paused, grinning wickedly. "And he lost in the battle that ensued."

"So now he's locked up in the Negaverse." Gosalyn said, glaring at her foe.

"Yes and no." Negaduck said. "He's not locked up in a cell in the Negaverse, but the Negaverse, on a whole, _is_ his cell, because he has no way to escape it."

And with that, he flung Gosalyn aside, and reached into his pocket. "We're done talking." he said, "Let's get down to business now."

He pulled out a simple tape recorder, and held up it so Gosalyn could see. Not seeing it's significance, Gosalyn got up and charged Negaduck. Negaduck said nothing, but pressed the play button.

The recorder played back a single phrase, said in Gosalyn's voice.

"Keen gear."

Gosalyn froze as the super suit melted off of her and began to reform into something in-between her and Negaduck, but before it could, Negaduck rewound the tape and played back the phrase again. Drawn to the sound of Gosalyn's voice, the suit slithered over to the villain and reformed into the super suit once more, shaping itself into Negaduck's clothing, turning it silver.

Negaduck grinned darkly, as Gosalyn stood ramrod straight in shock, suddenly feeling very exposed without the super suit.

But only for a moment.

She began rushing the villain once more, ready to attack. But Negaduck was one step ahead of her, and knew how to control the super suit better than Gosalyn had. This was evidenced by his arm lashing out at Gosalyn, stretching out like a rubber band, wrapping itself around Gosalyn's leg, tripping her.

Gosalyn picked herself up quickly, and pounced at Negaduck, only to slide through the villain's mid-section as he phased out of existence, crashing to the ground behind him. Gosalyn tried once again to attack, but stopped suddenly when an invisible force grabbed Gosalyn by the neck and lifted her off the ground.

She floated around the villain for a moment, while Negaduck watched for several moments. Then the force released Gosalyn by throwing her to the ground. She started picking herself up once more, while at the same time, throwing a punch at Negaduck. Negaduck grabbed Gosalyn's fist, stopping the punch, then kicked her in the chest with such strength that it flung her across the roof, and into a metal smoke stack, knocking it clean over.

"Gosalyn?" a voice echoed out as Honker suddenly appeared climbing onto the roof from the ladder. "I heard some noise and came to-yikes!"

He suddenly saw Negaduck in the super suit and began to run for it, but Negaduck was too quick, releasing a wave of semi-transparent energy that smashed into Honker, throwing him off the roof. Honker twisted around in midair and managed to stop his fall by grabbing onto the ledge of the roof at the last second.

Gosalyn took the momentary distraction to charge Negaduck once more, but Negaduck whipped around suddenly and released a stream of fire at Gosalyn, creating a wall of fire to bar off Gosalyn.

Negaduck then turned and ran for the roof ledge, and leapt off of it, rising upward for a moment, then sinking downward out of sight past the roof's ledge. Gosalyn put out the fire using the gas gun's fire extinguisher attachment, and jogged over to the ledge, to see where Negaduck went.

Then the Negacopter popped up over the roof, with Negaduck perched on it's nose, the aircraft's headlights blaring in Gosalyn's face.

"And thus begins," Negaduck exclaimed loudly, his silver cape billowing in the vortex of the Negacopter's spinning propeller blades, "my reign of terror! Now nothing will stop me!"

He let out a roar of laughter, joined in by the other four members of the Fearsome Five who where sitting inside the Negacopter, with Quackerjack at the controls. Gosalyn watched in horror as the Negacopter pivoted around and started to fly off. Gosalyn was just beginning to plan out a maneuver to keep up by using the gas gun's grappling hook and rope, but then the Negacopter wavered, then vanished from sight. Gosalyn realized that Negaduck had used the super suit's power to turn it invisible.

"Gosalyn!" Honker yelled out, "Help!"

Gosalyn tore her eyes off the area of space that once held the Negacopter and rushed across the roof to where Honker hung on the ledge. She managed to grab Honker's hand just as it's hold on the ledge gave way. Quickly she pulled him onto solid ground.

"Gosalyn, are you all right?" he asked once he was safe.

"I'm fine." Gosalyn said, turning back to look at the spot where the Negacopter once was, "But St. Canard won't be."

Suddenly a series of alarms began blaring out from below, followed by some flashing lights. Gosalyn and Honker looked at one another, then peered over the edge of the roof at the ground below. Several cop cars, as well as vehicles Gosalyn immediately identified belonged to SHUSH, pulled up, surrounding the building.

"And things just got worse." Gosalyn murmured, watching as both police and SHUSH agents began to climb up the ladder to the roof.


	19. Explanations

Briefly summarized the storyline here, and tied up a few loose ends that we had up until now.

Chapter 19

Explanations

The police were only there in case Negaduck and the Fearsome Five were still there. Once the SHUSH agents saw that they were not, they shooed off the police, sending them away. They then seized Honker and Gosalyn and lead them to a vehicle to take them to the SHUSH headquarters. Neither resisted the SHUSH agents, knowing that there was little point.

The drive was a short one, and soon Honker and Gosalyn found themselves in J. Gander's office. The guards then left, leaving them alone with the director.

"Miss Mallard, Mister Muddlefoot, please have a seat." Hooter said, sounding not very pleased. "We will begin shortly."

Honker and Gosalyn obeyed. Gosalyn noted that there were three chairs to choose from, and something in her mind told her to expect a third person to arrive. She expected it to be SHUSH's 2IC, or some other SHUSH agent, but she was surprised who it really was.

After a few moments, the door opened and in walked in Launchpad McQuack, looking very puzzled. When he saw Honker and Gosalyn, he was even more puzzled.

"What's going on here?" he asked dumbly.

"Please have a seat Mister McQuack." Hooter said calmly, motioning to the third seat.

Launchpad didn't move for a moment, but then obeyed, unable to take his eyes off of honker and Gosalyn, Gosalyn especially.

"Miss Mallard, I'll give you two choices." Hooter began. "Either you start explaining everything to Mister McQuack, or I will, and then you can fill in the blanks."

"I'll do it." Gosalyn said, annoyed. "I don't trust you're version of the story."

"Story?" Launchpad asked, still puzzled.

"Launchpad, remember the articles in the paper saying Darkwing had returned?"

"Yeah."

"That's me."

Launchpad was silent for a moment. "Huh?" he asked.

"The Darkwing shown on those papers isn't the real Darkwing!" Gosalyn repeated, annoyed. "It's me posing as him!"

Launchpad was silent for another moment, while his brain processed this. "Why didn't you tell me?" he asked.

"You didn't need to know." Gosalyn said.

"But I would've helped you!" Launchpad insisted.

"I couldn't guarantee that." Gosalyn said. "Especially once you knew _why _I was doing it at all."

"What do you mean?" Launchpad asked.

"Launchpad, on the night you went to the fan club's memorial party and I stayed home to clean the attic, I found a letter." Gosalyn said. "A letter from Darkwing, written on the very night he disappeared, just hours after he fell into the river. It said that he was all right, that he got out of the river unhurt, but he was being pursued by an enemy that knew his identity, where he lived, and his family. He said that he was going to try and defeat him, but obviously, he failed.

"I know now that the enemy was Negaduck. When Darkwing pulled himself from the river, he witnessed a key part of Negaduck's plan to conquer St. Canard if not more, a plan that is being carried out as we speak. Darkwing confronted Negaduck about it, and planned to stop him. A battle ensued between the two of them, and Darkwing lost. Negaduck took him captive and sent Darkwing to the Negaverse, where he is trapped in still today."

"How does Negaduck get to and from the Negaverse?" Hooter interrupted. "And how do you know this?"

"Because the big duck himself told me just tonight, on the roof where you found me." Gosalyn explained. "How Negaduck is able to go from universe to universe I don't know, but Negaduck indicated that it's vital in his plan."

"Exactly what is his plan, Gos?" Launchpad asked.

"That's the next part of the story." Gosalyn continued. "After I found the letter, I decided that there had to be clues somewhere that would tell me where Darkwing went, and I decided to in order to find them, I would pose as Darkwing, as simply as a cover, in case anybody saw me. I didn't intend to start getting all of that publicity, or getting involved with any cases, but then Megavolt escaped from prison.

"Knowing that Megavolt could do a lot of damaged if unsupervised, I made a side note to keep an eye out for him while I searched for clues, a search that admittably wasn't getting me anywhere. SHUSH contacted me with the Flashquack, hoping to find Darkwing himself. Deciding that it might be profitable to keep them informed, I contacted them back, only to have the _good_ Director Hooter to tell me to stay out of it.

"Then I got word of a bank robbery, and went to check it out. I found evidence that both Megavolt and Negaduck had been there, although I didn't know it at the time. I was almost caught by the press there, thus earning me even more unwanted publicity in the papers. It was then that Honker got involved, having seen the pictures in the papers and putting two with two. He confronted me about it, and I told him everything. He said he might be able to help look for clues to explaining Darkwing's disappearance.

"Meanwhile, I checked out the old Fearsome Five hideout, hoping that I might find our missing Megavolt there. I was right, and found both Megavolt and Negaduck, as well as their current mode of transportation. I overheard plans to infiltrate SHUSH, and saw them take off to due just that. But before I could do anything more, SHUSH interfered once more, taking me here to make me confess to you, Launchpad, what I was doing. I tried to tell them that they where in danger, only to be ignored by the director himself, saying that it wasn't true. Bet you regret that now, don't you Hooter?"

Hooter frowned, blushing slightly, but said nothing.

"Anyway, it turned out that Negaduck was after one of their gizmos, a kind of suit that, when you wear it, it gave you superpowers." Gosalyn went on.

"It works kind of like Gizmoduck's own suit, only it's even more powerful." Honker added briefly.

"Yes, and once Negaduck had it, he would be virtually unstoppable, able to carry out the plan he claims he's been working on for eight years. And he almost got it in the break in, but I was able to weasel my way out of SHUSH's hands for the moment, and went and stopped him and Megavolt. It was by sheer accident that I ended up wearing the suit, and consequently forcing Negaduck to leave without once SHUSH _finally_ caught on and went to stop him. Negaduck was too quick though, and was already on his way into leaving. I tried to pursue, but Negaduck shook me off.

"Meeting with Honker later, we discovered what the suit could do, and in the same day, finally found a clue to Darkwing's disappearance, indicating that we'd find it at the building good ole' Hooter found us at. Unfortunately, Negaduck was listening in, and was waiting for us when we arrived. He had a recording of my voice saying the phrase I discovered turned the super suit on and off, which I'm assuming he got from the same conversation, and upon telling me where Darkwing was, among other things, he tricked me by playing back that recording. The super suit, not knowing which was which, deactivated, and then reactivated on Negaduck. He still has it, and is current out there somewhere wreaking havoc. And then SHUSH found us, and that brings us to now." Gosalyn concluded, before adding, "Oh, and Negaduck as broken the rest of the..."

"...Fearsome Five out of jail, we know." Hooter assured her. "It's all over in the papers. St. Canard is a state of panic, and it has good reason to be if Negaduck keeps a hold on the super suit for too long."

"What _can_ that suit do?" Honker asked.

"Everything." Hooter replied, standing and looking out the nearby window. "Molecular elasticity, telekinesis, pyrokinesis, cryokinesis, super strength, phasing, invisibility, self-levitation, you name it, it's got it. Except for telepathic abilities, Dr. Sarah Bellum was unable to get that to work. That, and shape-shifting. Only the suit can do that. It cannot force the wearer to change shapes as well, beyond the molecular stretching of limbs, anyway."

"And why does it only engage when I say keen gear?" Gosalyn asked. "Why use that phrase for a password?"

"We didn't." Hooter said. "It didn't have one until you engaged it for the first time by touching it. It heard the first phrase you said after it was engaged and encoded itself to recognize it as the password to turn on and off. It also voice-printed the password, so only Gosalyn can say the password."

"That's why Negaduck had the recording of my voice." Gosalyn said. "To fool the suit into thinking I said it."

"And now he's got it." Launchpad said, speaking for the first time since Gosalyn finished her story. "What are we going to do?"

"That's why you're all here." Hooter said, returning to his seat. "To figure out a plan and then enact upon it."

This took Gosalyn slightly by surprise. "Really?" she asked.

Hooter nodded guiltily. "Gosalyn, I was wrong to ever try and stop you. I did it because I thought you wouldn't be able to handle the danger and get yourself hurt, and if I allowed that to happen, well, I couldn't, so I worked to stop you from getting yourself in too deep. Obviously, it was pointless, and that I had little to fear. I see that now."

"But why did you deny everything I told you?" Gosalyn asked.

"SHUSH was conducting it's own investigation into it, but it was being kept very quiet, so much so, very few within SHUSH actually knew about it." Hooter explained. "I didn't want the secret from getting out, so I denied it to try and preserve the secrecy. It was in vain, though, after Negaduck and Megavolt broke into our headquarters, the secret was promptly revealed."

"That would make since if you only denied it in front of your other agents, but you denied it when we were alone in the car as well." Gosalyn said.

"No, we weren't. There was one other person in the car." Hooter said. "The driver. He was listening in to make sure I stayed safe. It's SHUSH procedure, and a rather sensible one at that." he fiddled with one of his pens for a moment. "There is another side to it, though."

"Oh?" Gosalyn asked.

"One, I didn't want to believe it. SHUSH is a high security facility. In my arrogance, I thought that it was safe, but we've proven that wrong. Two, was that I thought you were trying simply to escape, and were willing to say anything to do it. You do have a record of doing that."

Gosalyn couldn't deny it, but it surprised her that the director knew that too. "How much _do_ you know about us?" she asked.

"More than you think." was all that Hooter was going to say.

"Not that I'm happy this is getting worked out, but we're venturing away from the problem at hand." Honker interrupted politely.

"Honk's right, we can't waste anymore time. We have to figure out how to stop Negaduck." Gosalyn said, rubbing her beak.

"What do you propose?" Hooter inquired.

"Well, with Negaduck having the super suit, I agree that I can't handle it alone anymore." Gosalyn said, pacing. "The problem is that if SHUSH backs us up, Negaduck would see it too quickly, and react quickly to escape, and with his power, he can easily do so. What we need is a helping hand that has battled Negaduck before and knows what to do, and do it well."

"You're thinking of Darkwing." Hooter guessed.

"Who better?" Honker said. "Darkwing is essentially Negaduck, only Darkwing's good."

"Someone will have to go into the Negaverse and rescue him, though." Gosalyn thought out loud.

"But how?" Launchpad asked.

Hooter was silent for a moment. "Gosalyn, there is something else you should know." he finally admitted. "SHUSH has been aware that Negaduck has been going from our universe to the Negaverse for some time now."

"You have?" Gosalyn asked.

"Yes, we built a scanner that can detect the inter-dimensional portals that connect the two universes." Hooter explained. "We've been using it to roughly track Negaduck's movements. The problems though is that we don't know how Negaduck is making these portals, and which is a coming or going portal. Since they're two-way, it's impossible to tell."

"So you don't know if Negaduck is leaving our universe, or arriving in it." Honker surmised.

"We've tried to catch him and find out, but he's never where he should be when we do so." Hooter went on. "What's worse is that he hasn't used a portal for awhile now, and thus we can't track him as accurately now."

"How does this help us?" Launchpad asked.

"Knowing the flaws with our scanner, we hoped to find a way to create our own inter-dimensional portals to try and learn more about them, and maybe even venture into the Negaverse and work at bringing Negaduck down from that end." Hooter said.

The director's three guests looked at one another.

"And?" Gosalyn asked.

"If you will please follow me, I will show you." Hooter said, getting down from his chair and walking out of the room.

The others looked at one another for a moment, then, knowing that they could do little else at the moment, followed...


	20. The Negaverse

Left a cliffhanger in this chapter that I think I'm going to have some fun with in the next chapter. ;)

Chapter 20

The Negaverse

They followed Hooter down the many hallways of the SHUSH headquarters in utter silence, journeying down to the ground floor. Gosalyn thought they weren't going to venture any further, but Hooter surprised her and lead them down another set of stairs, going down yet another floor.

Gosalyn decided it shouldn't be surprising that the building would have a basement, but she was surprised at how many it _did_ have. From the ground floor, they traveled down an additional five floors until Hooter finally stopped outside a door, which Gosalyn assumed was their stop.

Hooter pulled out a small key, and inserted it into a slot on the door, turning it. Next to the door, four panels slid open. Hooter pressed in a very long and complicated password into one, pressed his hand another, which scanned it, brought his eyes in line with another, which Gosalyn assumed scanned them as well, and finally spoke his name softly into the fourth one.

He then went back to the key and gave it another turn. A small panel opened directly above the key and Hooter pressed his thumb against it. It buzzed for a moment, then beeped. Hooter turned the key one final time to be rewarded with the sound of a click, and the door slid open.

It was then that Gosalyn saw why all the security measures, and why they had to travel down so many floors to get here. Beyond the door was a massive metal device that filled half of the room, and stretched from the floor all the way up to the ceiling five floors above them. It reminded Gosalyn of a Stargate, only boxier, more complicated, bigger, thicker, and with a whole lot more wires streaming down from it.

Very few scientists where in the room, and Gosalyn suspected it was because very few of them actually had the security clearance to get here. Among the scientists was, unsurprisingly, Dr. Bellum.

"Director Hooter." she said, coming to them upon noticing they had arrived. "The generator is all powered up and ready for use."

"Very good, please stand by to activate on my order." Hooter replied.

Dr. Bellum nodded, and walked off to a small metal staircase that lead up into a small tower. Gosalyn assumed it was a kind of control room.

"Well, what do you think?" Hooter inquired of his guests, turned to face them.

"It's amazing!" Honker replied, turning around and around, trying to take it all in at once. "How long did it take to create this?"

"Twenty years." Hooter replied. "Ten of those years were spent simply discussing if it was even possible. Two were spent preparing the SHUSH building for housing the project, and the following eight years actually designing and building the device, sped up greatly after we learned of the existence of the Negaverse from Darkwing."

Launchpad rubbed one hand along a nearby generator, feeling it thrum under the sheer power needed to use the device. "Does it work?" he asked.

"Most definitely." Hooter replied. "We've used it twice now, and both were preliminary experiments to see if it was stable enough for travel and it actually led were it needed to lead. And they were complete successes."

"So we're going to use this to get into the Negaverse." Gosalyn said.

"Yes." Hooter said. "And I'd like you to be the one to go, Miss Mallard."

Gosalyn stared at Hooter in awe. "Me?" she asked.

"Yes, you." Hooter replied.

"It makes sense, Gos." Honker pointed out. "Out of all of us, you're the one who doesn't have an evil twin running around in that universe."

"Instead I have a sweet, kind-hearted, double running around." Gosalyn said.

"Which means that you'll be easily trusted by the few good people in the Negaverse." Hooter concluded. "You're the best duck we have for the job."

Gosalyn thought it through and realized that they were right. "Okay, so what do I need to do?" she asked.

"Synchronize your watch exactly to this clock." Hooter ordered, handing her a small alarm clock. "We can only maintain a portal for two hours. After that we are forced to close the portal and recharge the generators, a process that can take as long as a week. You have until then to find Darkwing, and, found or not, I want you back here before the portal closes."

"Done." Gosalyn said, finishing the adjustments to her watch and handing back the alarm clock.

"Location is relative in both universes." Hooter explained next. "That means that everything in our universe is in the exact same spot in the Negaverse. You should already have a fair layout of the land. Once you cross the event horizon of the portal, I want you to head straight for the abandoned warehouse the Fearsome Five hide out in. In the Negaverse, that is the location Friendly Four's base of operations. They should know were to find Darkwing, or at least know where he'd most likely be."

"Gotcha." Gosalyn said, looking up at the spot where she knew the portal would open. "Anything else I need to know?"

"To be careful," Hooter replied, "And to be quick. Time is short by all accounts." he turned to Launchpad and Honker. "If you'll please take a few steps back, we'll begin." he said.

The two quickly backed up to the rear wall. Hooter signaled to Dr. Bellum in the control tower and the device began to hum and spark in preparation to engage.

Hooter then turned to leave, pausing long enough to place one hand on Gosalyn's shoulder. "Good luck." he said, and then left.

Gosalyn then turned and focused her attention on the portal that was now starting to form. It started out as a small speck of light, and started to grow from there, until it was big enough for a single person to step through. Gosalyn turned unsurely to Hooter, who nodded encouragingly. Gosalyn took a step towards the swirling mass of colors, took a deep breath, then stepped inside.

The ride was quick and violent, and Gosalyn exited the portal with more speed than she had entered on the other side, landing in a heap. Picking herself up from the dusty floor she found herself on, she looked around, readjusting the hat she wore on her head. The room was identical to the one she had just left, only it was completely empty except for her and the portal, the only source of light in the room.

Feeling a eerie sensation start to brew in her stomach, she headed for the door, and worked her way upstairs. she found herself in what looked like the SHUSH building, but it was obvious it had been used as an office building and had been abandoned for some time. Trudging through the thick dust that had settled, Gosalyn approached the building's front door, and after a hesitating a moment, flung it open to find a nightmare on the other side.

It was St. Canard alright, but a very alien one. But that what was so eerie about it. _Everything _was the same, and yet it wasn't in various different ways. It was like looking into a fun house mirror, and seeing your own reflection, the same, but very distorted. The first thing that Gosalyn noticed about the NegaCanard was the air. Gosalyn struggled just getting enough air to hyperventilate without gagging. The air here made St. Canard's back home seem like good clean country air, and the air there wasn't exactly pollutant free either.

The second thing Gosalyn noticed was how dark it seemed to be. She couldn't tell if it was night or day, and part of it was because of the many pollutants in the air. The other, bigger part, was the fact that the NegaCanard was producing no light of it's own whatsoever, except for some flashing red lights in the distance that belonged to a police car.

And that was another thing wrong. There were several of those swirling red lights all over the horizon, more than Gosalyn could count within a minute. The streets were also filthy and showed signs of being in a war zone, as well as being empty. Nobody in the Negaverse dared stray outside their homes unless they had to, and Gosalyn could understand why. She was glad she did not have to call this place home.

Gosalyn glanced down at her watch and saw she had already used up fifteen minutes of her two hours, and knew she had to hurry now. Keeping a watchful eye out, she journeyed down the streets for the Friendly Four's hideout, hoping they could help.

Gosalyn knew that when Darkwing visited here, he had managed to turn NegaCanard into a better place, not perfect, but much more like home, to Negaduck's dismay. But with each step Gosalyn took, it seemed to her that it was all in vain. Negaduck had since and undone all of the "damage" Darkwing had inflicted on his universe. And it seemed that even thought Darkwing had spent the past seven years of his life here, he hadn't been able to accomplish what he had done the first time around.

It was clear that Negaduck was being much more careful about that, making sure that it wouldn't happen again.

Taking into consideration that this was the Negaverse, Gosalyn reached her destination with ease, which surprised her. What also surprised her was the fact that the warehouse she found was perfectly identical to the one back home, which was a big difference when compared to the rest of NegaCanard.

There was no guards, but Gosalyn presumed that was to avoid suspicion. That, and the fact that they simply weren't very bright. She wondered how she should enter. Considering that the Friendly Four were her allies, it seemed rude just to barge in. So she politely knocked on the big wooden door that was partly closed over the warehouse's entrance.

No one answered, and fearing that she might draw suspicion to herself if she knocked any louder, she simply just slipped inside. It was dim in the warehouse, and was filled almost with old, forgotten boxes, containing who-knew-what. She heard voices directly ahead of her, and quietly, she made her way towards them.

Finally she found Megavolt and Quackerjack sitting at a fold-up card table playing a game of go fish. They were so absorbed with it that they did not notice Gosalyn enter the room.

"Got any threes, Quackerjack?" Megavolt asked.

"Go fish." Quackerjack replied calmly.

Megavolt did as he was told, and, annoyed, pulled another card from the stack in front of them.

A long pause followed, interrupted by Quackerjack giggling occasionally, before Quackerjack finally took his turn. "Got any threes, Megs?"

"Darn." Megavolt mumbled, handing over his threes, forgetting he had already asked if Quackerjack had any threes a moment ago, which Quackerjack took with pleasure.

"Now, do you have any sevens?" Quackerjack asked with glee, indicating that he was about to win.

Megavolt handed over his last card in defeat, which Quackerjack snatched away with a hoot of laughter. "You always win." Megavolt moaned.

Gosalyn decided to take that moment to announce her presence, and cleared her throat softly. Megavolt and Quackerjack stood in alarm, and saw Gosalyn. They went on the defensive for a brief second, but eventually relaxed, realizing that the figure before them wasn't their enemy.

"Okay, I'm Gosalyn Mallard of the..." Gosalyn paused, realizing that she didn't know what her universe was called in the Negaverse. "...well...I'm _not_ the Gosalyn of _this_ universe..."

That was all that Megavolt and Quackerjack needed to know, for they both let out sighs of relief.

"We've been wondering when you guys in the Posiverse would start coming here." Quackerjack explained.

"Yeah, we thought that this would've been one of the first places you'd come looking for Darkwing." Megavolt added.

"Well, first there was the matter of figuring out _how_." Gosalyn said, looking around. "Where's Liquidator and Bushroot?"

"In jail." Megavolt answered, scratching the back of his head nervously. "We, uh, haven't figured out how we were going to get them out yet."

"Yeah, ever since they took Darkwing, things have come to a standstill." Quackerjack agreed.

"Wait, Darkwing was here?" Gosalyn asked.

"Emphasis on the was." Quackerjack said, nodding. "When he got stuck here in the Negaverse seven years ago, he kinda became our leader. Our goals were to try and improve the Negaverse while at the same time try and find a way to get Darkwing back in the Posiverse where he belonged." he paused, looking embarrassed. "As you can see, we, uh, haven't made much progress on either."

"I understand." Gosalyn assured the both of them, finding it weird that she was having such a civil conversation with two people who were enemies in her universe. "And I don't blame you for anything. You've done what you've could. Just don't give up and stop."

"Oh, we won't." Megavolt promised, making the scout's honor sign with one hand. "But any help you can give us would be welcome."

"I'll see what I can do." Gosalyn promised. "However, my first priority is finding Darkwing and bring him home. Negaduck is going and try to take over my universe, and..."

"Surprise, surprise." Megavolt answered. "Negs is at it again."

"Too bad we're in no condition to try and stop him." Quackerjack added. "Anyway, as we said, Darkwing isn't here. He got captured and sent to jail on Negaduck's orders about two days ago."

"Well, this must be no new thing, I'll bet Darkwing's gotten arrested loads of times." Gosalyn remarked.

"Actually, this is the first time on Negaduck's orders." Quackerjack said. "In the past, Negaduck hasn't been too strict on getting Darkwing captured. I mean, sure, he'd send out the occasional death threat and promise he would be victorious, but other than that..."

"Then why now the change of heart?" Gosalyn asked.

"He must have figured out you'd try to rescue him." Megavolt said. "He finally cracked down on Darkwing so that he could keep him where he could keep an eye on him."

"But he's not here in the Negaverse." Gosalyn said. "He must have someone else watching him. Anyway, where is Darkwing?"

"He'd be at the St. Canard Tower, Negaduck's base of operations." Megavolt answered. "The jail is in the basement."

"Thanks." Gosalyn said, starting to leave. "I'll see if I can free Liquidator and Bushroot at the same time!" she added, wondering if she'd ever say that sentence again.

"Wait!" Quackerjack said. "We'll come and help you!"

"You just said that the Friendly Four on a whole is in no condition to do anything of the sort right now." Gosalyn pointed out. "Besides, the fewer there are trying to infiltrate St. Canard Tower the better."

"Well...look out for yourself." Megavolt said. He hesitated for a moment, like he wanted to say more, but remained silent.

"I will." Gosalyn promised. "And I'll arrange for help for you guys!"

And with that she reentered the dark streets of NegaCanard. The journey seemed quick, but the eerie feeling Gosalyn had since entering the Negaverse began to worsen. She knew she was pressing her luck every moment longer she stayed here. It was just a matter of when she'd start to notice.

Halfway to the St. Canard Tower, the tallest skyscraper in town, located in the dead center of the city, Gosalyn still hadn't ran into anybody else besides Megavolt and Quackerjack, which she was finding ever more odd. She could understand that, initially, not running into anybody would seem logical, but she had been here for an hour now, and had covered a good deal of land. She should have seen somebody by now.

She paused as she started walking past a dark alley. Back in her universe, if she wanted to get to the St. Canard Tower as quickly as possible, she'd go down this alley as a shortcut, and it was a very effective one. However, back home it always ran the risk of meeting up with a gang of robbers. But this was the Negaverse, where there was no risk of that.

It was a forgone conclusion.

Gosalyn decided it wasn't worth it, and started onward again, only to be stopped when a voice called out after her from the alley.

"I am the terror that hunts in the night."

Gosalyn froze, wondering when Negaduck had gotten here, wondering what to do, if she could do anything.

"I am the shopping cart that nicks your paint job."

Slowly and stealthily, Gosalyn pulled the gas gun out, then whirled around to confront her challenger, pointing the gun right at the person.

But not even she was prepared for who she found before her.

"I am," continued Gosalyn Mallard of the Negaverse, "...your worst nightmare."


	21. NegaGosalyn

I had fun writing this chapter. Lots of drama and stuff, with the occasional pun. And, of course, a cliff-hanger ending. ;)

Chapter 21

NegaGosalyn

For a moment, Gosalyn wondered if she really _was_ having a nightmare. The Gosalyn that stood before her was almost exactly identical to herself, even right down to the hair style. They even more similar outfits, except where Gosalyn wore Darkwing's purple and pink suit, cape, and hat, the NegaGosalyn wore the contrasting yellow, red, and black suit, cape, and hat.

It was then that Gosalyn realized, even though it shouldn't have happened, that NegaGosalyn was her enemy.

She brought the gas gun up to bear on her double.

"Now, now, Gosalyn." NegaGosalyn said, almost cheekily, moving her black cape aside to show off the Uzi and P90 weapons she had strapped to her hip, "Don't do anything you'll regret."

Seeing she was outgunned, Gosalyn lowered her gas gun. NegaGosalyn took a step forward, and Gosalyn stepped to one side to compensate, and very soon, they were circling each other.

"I thought you were good in this universe." Gosalyn said, eyeing her double.

"Times change." NegaGosalyn answered. "I guess you could say I saw the light."

"Or the darkness." Gosalyn muttered.

"It would seem that way to you, wouldn't it, miss goody-two-shoes?" NegaGosalyn asked, grinning broadly. Gosalyn was reminded greatly of Negaduck.

They continued circling each other, waiting for one of them to make the first wrong move and pounce, slowly moving down the street as they went.

"It's your move." Gosalyn said finally, getting antsy.

"I know." NegaGosalyn replied, equally antsy. "But I must admit, I didn't expect to see you here. Dad told me you had given up hero work."

"It's like you said." Gosalyn replied, matter-of-factly, "Times change."

NegaGosalyn suddenly lunged. Gosalyn saw it, and leapt nimbly to one side, making a break for the St. Canard Tower. NegaGosalyn landed her lunge on her feet, and was promptly chasing after her double. Gosalyn knew there was no way she could outrun herself, and promptly started looking for an escape route.

However, the escape route ended up finding her, when she stumbled upon an open manhole, invisible in the darkness of NegaCanard. Gosalyn fell downward for what seemed like several feet, then crashed onto some metallic and moving. Gosalyn quickly realized that it was a subway car.

A moment later a loud thud rang out as NegaGosalyn dropped out of the manhole on the next subway car from Gosalyn, landing on all fours like a cat.

"What do you think now?" NegaGosalyn asked, cape billowing in the wind.

"Well," Gosalyn said, thinking, "_Spiderman_ comes to mind."

"Ha! Liar!" NegaGosalyn exclaimed lunging as Gosalyn avoided it by rolling to one side, nearly rolling of the side of the subway. "You were thinking about how totally deranged we must be to fight it out _here_ of all places!"

Gosalyn realized she couldn't deny it as she stood up to swing a punch at NegaGosalyn. NegaGosalyn dodged it, and swung one of her own at her double. Gosalyn also dodged it, and tried to slap her evil twin, the twin blocking it by trying to slap _her_ double.

They cat-fought for a few moments before NegaGosalyn finally got fed up with it and landed a kick to Gosalyn's stomach, knocking her backwards. Gosalyn's momentum in sync with the subway train's caused her to roll of several feet before Gosalyn was finally able to stop herself, looking up in time to see NegaGosalyn come to a skidding halt before her.

Gosalyn rolled out of the way, causing NegaGosalyn to skid past, allowing Gosalyn to land a kick at NegaGosalyn's exposed back. The double face-planted the subway train, and Gosalyn stood up to attack from above, but NegaGosalyn, even though she couldn't see, quickly lashed out with her feet, knocking Gosalyn backwards onto the roof. Again physics took control of the fight, and Gosalyn slid uncontrollably towards her twin.

NegaGosalyn jumped up and leapt over Gosalyn to land on the other side, as Gosalyn quickly picked herself up and the fight resumed again, each constantly trying to hit the other, but both blocking each other hits, neither making any progress towards winning the fight.

Suddenly, a loud ringing noise rang out. NegaGosalyn suddenly ducked, and Gosalyn saw why. A light fixture of some sort, designed to alert the driver of the train as to where the train was heading. Gosalyn couldn't get a good look at it because it was speeding so quickly that it was a blur, but didn't care to anyway, quickly bending over backwards to avoid it.

The instant it zipped by, NegaGosalyn kicked the feet out from under Gosalyn, causing her to fall onto her back. Gosalyn retorted by kicking back, one of her webbed feet making contact with NegaGosalyn's face. With a grunt, she stumbled backwards, for a moment, then collapsed onto her back and rolled off of the train.

At that moment, the train exited it's tunnel, and began crossing over a suspended bridge somewhere, still underground it seemed. NegaGosalyn reached out and grabbed a cord, which swung her around, allowing her to drop back onto the subway train as it sped back into another tunnel.

Gosalyn lunged at her, hands outstretched. NegaGosalyn grabbed her double's hands, and used them to swing her around. Gosalyn then crashed to the floor of a subway station as the train sped past. NegaGosalyn dropped down into the station as well, and the train sped by and on without them.

"Now that we're nicely warmed up..." NegaGosalyn began as Gosalyn weakly picked herself up, and the evil twin pulled out not one but two Uzis, one from both hips, and opened fire.

Gosalyn instantly did the first thing that came to mind and leapt off the station platform and onto the now-empty tracks as the spray of bullets smashed into the sign that had hung behind her only moments earlier. Gosalyn did not hesitate either, knowing she was even more danger now that she was on the tracks, and ran across to a set of adjoining tracks where an abandoned subway train stood waiting.

Quickly, she clambered inside, hearing another spray of bullets whizz by in her direction. Only once she was safely inside the empty train did she look back at her enemy. NegaGosalyn still stood on the station, holstering her Uzis as she slowly walked forward towards the edge of the platform.

Suddenly, another subway train sped by the station, nothing more than a grey blur to Gosalyn, and was gone just as quickly as it arrived. But during that split second NegaGosalyn was out of sight, she had vanished.

Gosalyn gulped, knowing this wasn't good, and quickly ducked down, rolling under a nearby seat. It was dark in the train, and eerily quiet. Gosalyn could hear nothing but her own breathing, which seemed unnaturally loud. The moments passed slowly, knowing that she was still in grave danger until she knew for sure exactly were NegaGosalyn was. The tension was thick enough that a chainsaw couldn't cut through it. Gosalyn studied her surroundings, looking for some sign of her opponent.

Her eyes fell upon a mirror, built into the side of the car. Why it was there, and for what reasons, Gosalyn did not know, maybe it was there to conceal a video camera. But the point was what she saw reflected in the mirror. NegaGosalyn, standing on the station this subway train was parked at, raising a full-fledged, very powerful, machine gun.

"Where the heck did _that _come from?" Gosalyn breathed, quickly ducking further under the chair, as NegaGosalyn opened fire.

The bullets swept up and down the subway train, nosily knocking holes into it's relatively thin metal skin, breaking windows and tearing up the upholstery of the seats. At least one bullet struck the mirror, and it shattered, distorting the image of NegaGosalyn enough that Gosalyn couldn't tell where the double was anymore.

Knowing that she couldn't hide here forever, Gosalyn pulled out her gas gun, hoping to get a chance to use the element of surprise. Silence fell again, broken only by the soft padding sound NegaGosalyn's webbed feet made as she approached the train. A soft thudding sound announced she was boarding the train from the far entrance.

It was all that Gosalyn needed to know, and quickly fired off a canister of blue smoke in the direction of the doorway. It went off and rapidly began to fill the car with the thick smoke. NegaGosalyn fired her weapon again, but this time blindly, telling Gosalyn that now was her chance to escape. Quickly she jumped up and ran for the exit on the opposite end of the train from NegaGosalyn and jumped out of it, heading for the staircase that lead up and out of the subway station.

A fury of bullets impacted the staircase as Gosalyn raced up the steps and out onto the street above, kicking up a cloud of dust. Knowing she had been seen, Gosalyn ran down the street she was on, heading straight for the nearby corner. She was able to duck around it as the sound of more bullets being fired announced NegaGosalyn's presence.

Gosalyn suddenly realized that the fight had actually taken her closer to her destination, the St. Canard Tower, and considered that a sign of luck being on her side. However, she was still far enough away that she couldn't run and reach the tower before her double did, especially one that was armed with what seemed to be a small arsenal.

She stopped next to a fire escape, and after hesitating a brief moment, clambered up it's ladder and up two floors of the building it was attached to. Once there, NegaGosalyn came into view. This time, she had her P90 drawn, and was waving it around stealthily, searching for her prey.

She confused for a moment, wondering where Gosalyn could've went, knowing her double's limits. Gosalyn used this to her advantage, quietly climbing higher on the fire escape, until she reached the roof. At that point, NegaGosalyn finally saw her, and fired in her direction. The fire escape obstructed her aim, however, and the bullets simply bounced off it while Gosalyn ducked down long enough for the firing to stop, then ran on, traveling across the roof.

She paused when she heard a soft thud behind her, and turned to see what it was. A metal ball was rolling around on the roof, softly ticking. Gosalyn's eyes widened, then she ran flat out in the opposite direction of the ball. A moment later, the grenade exploded, blasting a small hole in the building, and knocking Gosalyn over onto the edge of the roof, positioned so that she could see over the edge at the smaller building that sat exactly adjacent to this one.

She looked up in time to see a grappling hook whizz into the air and latch onto the roof ledge, and knowing that NegaGosalyn was on her way up, Gosalyn picked herself up, backed up a few feet, then took a running leap off the roof of the building. She hung in the air for a few moments, then with a jolt, began to sink downward, Gosalyn's stomach leaping up her throat. As she sank, she sped up, and Gosalyn braced for the impact.

Finally it came with a bone jarring thump and she landing in a crouching position and rolled to channel out the force of the landing. The worse of the force was avoided, and Gosalyn picked herself up and began running again, ignoring the mild pain in her legs. Another thump echoed out, announcing NegaGosalyn's arrival.

"C'mon, now, can't we stop fighting and work this out?" NegaGosalyn asked jokingly, giving pursuit at a much slower rate than Gosalyn.

"Not really." Gosalyn answered, stopping and facing her opponent. "I _know _what you'd do if I fell for that."

"See, that's what we have in common, Gosalyn." NegaGosalyn said. "We both have had a rough history, both have had similar fates bestowed down upon us, both of having lost our adopted fathers at least once for long periods of time, and we both have similar traits." NegaGosalyn grinned, stepping up directly in front of her double. "We have more in common than you think."

"What are you trying to do, turn me over to the dark side?" Gosalyn asked, weighing up her options.

"Oh sure, 'Luke I am your father!'" NegaGosalyn ranted sarcastically, "No! I'm not! I'm just saying that there is a little bit of evil in you, too."

Gosalyn frowned, and resisted the urge to run at her double and start pummeling her. "You're just trying to get me to allow my anger control my actions so that I start making mistakes to allow you to win, aren't you?" she asked.

NegaGosalyn hesitated for a moment, then asked innocently, "Is it working?"

"No!" Gosalyn roared and leaned back on the roof ledge and kicked her double with both feet, sending NegaGosalyn sprawling onto her back.

Gosalyn quickly turned around and leapt off the roof ledge, sailing over the fire escape that sat below the ledge. NegaGosalyn quickly sat up and threw another grenade. It fell short, bouncing off the railing on the fire escape and clattering to the platform floor while Gosalyn sailed past it, dropping downward.

Gosalyn then turned around in mid-air and fired off the grappling hook on the gas gun. The hook sailed upwards, it's rope squirming about like an eel, then latched onto the railing of a platform on the fire escape that sat about halfway down from the rooftop. Gosalyn was brought to a halt and was swung onto the platform directly below it.

The grenade then went off, detaching the platform it sat upon from the building in the explosion. The platform then crashed down onto the lower platforms on the fire escape, taking them down with it. The smoldering mess then crashed down onto the end of the platform opposite from where Gosalyn stood, and knocked it out of position before continuing on downward to the ground.

The platform titled downward a full ninety degrees, causing Gosalyn to loose her balance and slide down to the lowest end, latching on to the nearest handhold and hanging there. Gosalyn hung there for several moments, wondering what to do now, and then NegaGosalyn dropped down onto the top of the dangling platform. While balancing precariously on the railing, NegaGosalyn pulled out her P90 and fired a couple times at her prey. But her aim was off, and only created a few small sparks as the bullets bounced off the platform, missing Gosalyn altogether.

Gosalyn took the gas gun still in her hand, and fired twice at her opponent. The first container of smoke missed, but the second one struck the railing NegaGosalyn balanced upon, creating a small cloud of blue smoke, further obstructing NegaGosalyn's aim.

The evil twin fired some more, but again completely missed, even more than the first time. Gosalyn quickly worked her way around so that she now hung from the opposite side of the dangling platform. NegaGosalyn saw this as the smoke dissipated, and quickly adjusted her aim. She was still missing, but the margin of error was rapidly decreasing.

Gosalyn fired off two more canisters of smoke at NegaGosalyn, but missed as the twin leaned to one side to avoid them. In the process though, she momentarily lost her balance, and nearly fell. Gosalyn took that chance to kick off from the platform and out into the air, firing off the gas gun's grappling hook again and swinging through the air until safely touching the ground again.

Gosalyn's kicking off had imbalanced the entire platform, and it finally broke away from the building and started plummeting downward. NegaGosalyn then followed her double's example and fired off a grappling hook attached to her P90 and also swung down towards ground, taking the chance to slam, feet first, into Gosalyn in the process.

Gosalyn crumpled, the air getting knocked out of her lungs. NegaGosalyn grinned victoriously, and brought the P90 down on Gosalyn. Without even thinking, Gosalyn kicked the weapon just before it fired, sending it spiraling out of NegaGosalyn's grasp. The double panicked, and quickly began pulling out another grenade to get the upper hand again, but by that point Gosalyn had already tackled her, knocked the already armed grenade out of her hands.

It sailed upwards, then began back down. Gosalyn saw this, and quickly began to roll out of the way, taking NegaGosalyn with. The grenade hit the ground, the same time it went off, knocking the two girls into a stack of moldy cardboard boxes. A fight ensued for several moments before silence finally fell.

Then, in all of the destruction surrounding her, only one stood victorious...


	22. The Terror That Flaps in the Night

Chapter 22

The Terror That Flaps in the Night

Darkwing cradled his head, wishing many things. First, he was wishing that he could get out of this cell. Then he wished he could get out of the Negaverse. Then he wished he could stop Negaduck's to take over the Posiverse, or at least the Posiverse's St. Canard. Which only lead him back to his wish that he could get out of this prison cell, which currently was the foremost of his problems.

He had too many problems these days. So many he could write a book on it, though why he'd want to do that, he didn't know. Still, if he could have a peaceful moment long enough to at least get started on that, he'd savor it to the ends of the Earth and back.

He missed having those peaceful moments in his life, missed having some kind of warm, welcoming, home to return to, one that didn't constantly remind him of the dangers around him. he missed his friends, such as Launchpad, Morgana, heck, he was even willing to admit he missed Gizmoduck a little bit. But just a bit.

But most of all, he missed Gosalyn, and the Negaverse he had made his home for the past seven or so years lacked that, and everything else he liked as well. The place didn't even have rocky road ice-cream, which was his favorite. Apparently, it wasn't Negaduck's, however, because the villain had banned the substance years ago.

At least he didn't meet up with Negaduck very often. Having been the duck responsible for trapping Darkwing here, Negs knew that Darkwing would be out to get him, and made sure that the distance between him and his double were great, just to be safe. Still, he rubbed it in every chance he got that Darkwing was stuck here, and worst of all was the fact that he let Darkwing roam free in the Negaverse up until now, knowing that he couldn't find a way home to the Posiverse.

There had to be a way, though, because Negaduck traveled from one universe to the other fairly regularly. The problem was that Darkwing didn't know what it was, and whatever it was, it was very portable and easily hidden. Darkwing had never even come close to seeing the gizmo responsible for the inter-dimensional portals needed to access either universe. All he had ever seen were the portals themselves, which apparently Negaduck could control by remote. But that was what had gotten him into this mess in the first place.

It was really a pretty weird coincidence, actually. When he fell into the St. Canard river that faithful night, it swept him straight to Negaduck's current base of operations when traveling from one universe to the other, or simply communicating with each other. An old abandoned office building. It was perfect for Negs, however, because he could hideout in there and avoid the attention of outsiders. In fact the only reason Darkwing managed to find out about it was because Negaduck had a portal open at the time, using it communicate with his home universe, and the portal's light was showing through a window.

It wasn't long before he figured out what Negaduck was up to, and even managed to find out what the villain's plans were as he explained them in brief to an unknown source in the Negaverse. Darkwing didn't want to pass up the chance to stop Negaduck, and attacked. But from the start, the battle went badly for Darkwing. It was only with luck he managed to escape alive.

Knowing that his arch nemesis would be hot on his tail feathers, and doubting he could withstand another confrontation such as that, he went straight home, with the plans for leaving a lead to Negaduck's hideout so, in case the worse did happen, all was not lost.

So he left the letter for Gosalyn.

He wanted to explain it all, to pour his heart out into it, knowing that it might be the last chance he'd get. But he knew that he simply didn't have the time, and summed it up to be brief, leaving the letter in the place he hoped Negaduck wouldn't think to look. The attic. After that point, he went to his office and left a clue there that would lead straight to the office building, thinking that Gosalyn would go straight there upon finding the letter.

Then he ran again, putting as much distance as he could between him and his home, for it's occupants safety, who, at the very least, included Gosalyn. Negaduck finally caught up with him some distance away from home, and another fight ensued. He lost again, and this time was knocked unconscious.

When he awoke, he was in the Negaverse, left abandoned in an empty field.

Darkwing acted quickly, tracking down the only allies he had in this universe, the Friendly Four. Together, they initially set out plans to get Darkwing home where he belonged, but doing it proved to be very difficult, and Negaduck stood in their way, as unbeatable as ever. Upon their third failed try, Darkwing faced the truth and realized he was going to be here for a while. He joined up with the Friendly Four, becoming their leader, even though the Friendly Four insisted that saving the Negaverse wasn't Darkwing's fight. Darkwing, however, refused to accept that fact, and together they all worked to try and carry out their goals.

His main goal over these many years, however, wasn't to find a way back home, but rather, help the Friendly Four take out Negaduck's control on the Negaverse, because do that, and it'll be loads easier to find a way home. Darkwing was confident that it could be done; he and the Friendly Four nearly did it once before. But, granted, that was only because Negaduck hadn't been prepared to handle such a situation. Times had changed since then, and Negaduck was infinitely more careful about what happened in his universe.

Which was why Darkwing was here now. Knowing that this was a very critical moment in his plan to control two versions of St. Canard, Negaduck, for the first time since Darkwing arrived in the Negaverse, ordered that his double be taken into custody, and, to added further injury to Darkwing, sent NegaGosalyn to do it.

And, obviously, she succeeded.

Darkwing stared at his feet in shame. It wasn't his Gosalyn, and he knew it, but he couldn't hurt the girl, regardless of what she was now. Part of him said it was because that girl was once a sweet-hearted little girl who wouldn't hurt a fly, and the other, the more dominant one, said that it was because NegaGosalyn was identical to the one he left behind in the Posiverse, minus the evil traits.

Darkwing adjusted his slightly tattered, but still wearable, purple hat, and tugged at the unrelenting chains that held his arms to the cold brick wall behind him, knowing that these were really the only things keeping him from going anywhere. He stopped when he heard the lock in the metal door of the cell begin to turn, and waited to see who was entering.

"Speak of the devil." Darkwing muttered, as NegaGosalyn entered the room, strutting about happily. She had obviously seen action recently, for her costume, identical to Negaduck's, was dusty and wrinkled. It was not surprising, seeing that she often had to settle fights herself when Negaduck was away.

"Hello, Darkwing." NegaGosalyn addressed her prisoner, playing the role of the good cop, as she usually did when she checked up on him. Darkwing knew not to believe it. "How are we today?"

"Well, apart from the start of what could be a cold and sore limbs, I'm doing fair." Darkwing muttered sarcastically.

"Good!" NegaGosalyn said gleefully. "Then maybe you're up for a cell transfer!"

"Cell transfer, huh?" Darkwing asked, glaring at her. "Whatever for?"

"No real reason." NegaGosalyn. "I'm bored, if that helps."

"Not really." Darkwing said, watching NegaGosalyn pull out a ring of keys and dramatically slowly start searching for the one that would unlock the chains holding Darkwing. "You seem happy."

"Oh yes, quite." NegaGosalyn answered. "I just participated in a fight for your rescue, Darkwing."

Darkwing looked up. "The Friendly Four?" he asked hopefully, but assumed that the only two of the four left probably botched it already.

"Nah, not them." NegaGosalyn said, still looking for the right key melodramatically. "Instead, I got to meet up with someone else, someone you know well."

She paused, watching Darkwing get annoyed as he wondered who that was. "Well?" he finally spat out. "Who was it?"

"Just my Posiverse twin." NegaGosalyn replied softly.

"Gosalyn?" Darkwing asked, surprised, upset, and happy all at the same time. He had given up on the Posiverse coming to get him. So far as he knew, that universe had no means of doing it without stealing Negaduck's, which Darkwing had already proven would be greatly difficult, and he much less expected Gosalyn to get here, thinking he had unknowingly lead her to a dead end when he found out Negaduck moved his base of operations in the Posiverse to somewhere else, a location he did not know.

But NegaGosalyn confirmed it, by nodding happily. It was then that Darkwing's hopes fell.

"What happened?" he demanded, knowing that something had gone wrong. "What did you do?"

"Oh, I confronted her as she tried to sneak her way here." NegaGosalyn explained, continuing her search for the right key. "We fought, ended up not far from here where we finally decked it out."

"And she lost." Darkwing guessed, dismayed, missing the fact that there was a large amount of information missing from that explanation.

"Oh no, more than that, Darkwing." NegaGosalyn replied, finally finding the right key, and holding it up. "She won."

Darkwing frowned. "Then, I don't understand, how can you be here?" he asked, puzzled.

NegaGosalyn shrugged. "It was easy. I simply pulled off her outfit and snuck in here." she replied.

"What?" Darkwing asked, slow to put the pieces together. When he finally did, his eyes widened. "_Gosalyn?_" he asked, amazed.

"Listen, there isn't much time, we have about..." she checked her watch, "...thirty minutes to get out of here and back to the SHUSH building before the portal leading into the Posiverse closes."

"Gosalyn!" Darkwing repeated, spirts soaring now.

"So what's the deal with my double?" Gosalyn asked, unlocking the chains that held Darkwing. "Why is she evil now?"

"Not sure." Darkwing replied slowly, slightly stunned that the nightmare he had been living for the past seven years was about to end. "I think Negaduck brain washed her, or something." he shook his head. "Gosalyn."

The chains sprang open, and Darkwing embraced his adopted daughter. "I missed you." he said.

"I missed you too, Dad." she whispered back, but then was very serious. "But we don't have time for this. We need to get out of here, and fast. Negaduck is about to..."

"I know, I know!" Darkwing replied. "He's going to..." then he trailed off, a thought coming to mind. "Wait, how do I know you're really my Gosalyn, and not NegaGosalyn pretending to be Gosalyn?"

"Remember that incident with the peanut butter, the sealing wax, and your VCR?" Gosalyn asked, dragging Darkwing to the door, and looking out, checking for anyone coming their way.

"Okay, I'm convinced." Darkwing said. "Lead on."

Gosalyn nodded, and lead the way down the hall. Darkwing followed.

"So, other than getting in here, why the ruse?" Darkwing asked, regarding earlier.

"You mean me acting like my double?" Gosalyn asked, pausing at a corner to listen, again for anyone coming their way. "Easy. A guard lead me here. I had to keep up the ruse until he left. Didn't you hear his footsteps?"

"No, that cell was virtually sound proof." Darkwing commented, then he noticed something else. "Aren't we going the wrong way?" he asked.

"Not if we want to free Bushroot and Liki." Gosalyn replied, leading the way to another cell, almost identical to Darkwing's. Gosalyn inserted the key into the lock and opened it, swinging the door open.

Darkwing immediately rushed to the side of the withered plant-duck that had been his friend during the years he had been here, also chained, but more so, so that he couldn't escape so easily.

"Darkwing!" Bushroot exclaimed, surprised to see him, repositioning himself so that Darkwing could unlock the chains. He then eyed Gosalyn. "What's she doing..."

"Don't worry, she's my Gosalyn." Darkwing explained quickly, patting his chest. "She's going to get me out of here, and free you and Liki."

"You'll have to lead the way to him, though." Gosalyn said, stepping aside so that the newly freed mutant could lead the way. "I have no clue where Negaduck's keeping him."

"This way." Bushroot replied instantly, pointing with one leafy limb.

They wandered down the dank and cold corridors until they reached a large glass tank, enclosed on all sides. It was full to the brim with water, and no one needed to guess twice that it was Liki. Gosalyn motioned for the others to step back, and pulled out NegaGosalyn's P90 that she had swiped, and fired twice at the tank.

It promptly shattered, and the water gushed out, pooling on the floor for a moment, then reforming into the dog-like figure that was The Liquidator, who was stretching his limbs.

"Ahh, good to be out of there!" he exclaimed. "But why are we graced with the presence of NegaGosalyn?"

"She's the PosiGosalyn!" Bushroot corrected excitedly. "She's here to get Darkwing out of here, back to the Posiverse!"

"Which I have exactly twenty minutes to do it in." Gosalyn stated, consulting her watch. "And to make matters worse, the Negaverse is going to be on the lookout for us here soon."

"Why?" Darkwing asked.

"Well, I left NegaGosalyn in her underwear, tied up to a lamppost, throwing insults at me." Gosalyn explained. "It wasn't going to hold her there for long, and besides, someone would've found her eventually. Our fight made a lot of racket."

"So expect a fight." Darkwing said, as they ran for the prison exit.

"We'll help!" Bushroot offered, gesturing to himself and Liki. "We know the ins and outs of St. Canard and all within!"

"Then let's go!" Gosalyn said, taking the lead once more...


	23. Homeward Bound

This chapter was originally entitled "Status Report" because I orignally intended this chapter to be a simple chapter inwhich Hooter and Gosalyn fill Darkwing in on what had been happening in the Posiverse while he was gone, but that part ended up to only be a few paragraphs long, and the rest was all action and fighting. So it got a new name.

Speaking of chapters, were starting to wrap up now, only three chapters to go to the end after this one. The Countdown as begun:P

Anyway, enjoy!

Chapter 23

Homeward Bound

The guards in the St. Canard Tower lobby thought they had a really boring job. Since this was the base of operations for Negaduck and his adopted daughter, no one dared attack it except for the nutcases, and they were easily taken care of. This left them with very little to do most of them time.

The current shift at that moment had all gotten together to play a card game to pass the time, not expecting anything to happen. They were very preoccupied in the game, especially one particular guard who was about to win. They almost didn't notice three figures coming up the stairs from the underground prison until the one guard did win the game and looked up.

"Hey!" he called out, quickly rushing over to the three, "This is a restricted area, where do you think you're going?"

He froze instantly when the leader of the group whirled around on him, drawing a Uzi.

"Better take that back if you value you're life." NegaGosalyn threatened, not lowering her aim.

"Yes, of course, my apologizes, ma'am." the guard apologized quickly. He eyed Darkwing and Bushroot behind her though oddly. "Where are you taking _them_?" he asked, spitting out the last word like it was something vile.

"Prisoner transfer." NegaGosalyn explained quickly. "Lord Negaduck's orders."

"But, I haven't seen any paperwork on that." the guard quickly objected.

NegaGosalyn whirled on him again. "Are you questioning Negaduck?" she demanded.

"No, of course not." the guard answered quickly.

"Then let me through." NegaGosalyn said, starting her way for the door again, Darkwing and Bushroot obediently following.

"I'm afraid that we can't." another guard interrupted, joining the first one. "It's Negaduck's orders to have carbon copies of his orders for the transfer of any of his prisoners."

NegaGosalyn hesitated for a moment, then sighed in defeat. "We'll do it the hard way then." she said.

The two guards didn't notice the thin layer of water starting to pool at their feet until too late. At the sound of Gosalyn's voice, the water suddenly leapt upward into a wave, washing the two guards away. The other guards saw what were happening, and quickly began to react, but before they could, two extremely thick vine-like things that might have been roots broke through the floor, swiping aside some guards, and smashing themselves onto others. Bushroot began to cheer as the alarms went off, urging the roots on.

"Yay! You're doing good guys! Look out for that guard there!" he yelled. "Hey! Get that one on the stairs! Excellent!"

Gosalyn took the Uzi she had pilfered off of her twin and began shooting at the security cameras and alarms, while Darkwing took the other Uzi off of Gosalyn and helped do the same. Soon the guards were all unconscious, and Liki washed around the room, sweeping them all up until they were all gathered into a pile.

"Let's go!" Gosalyn yelled, taking out the last security device in the room. "We're running out of time!"

As they ran for the door, two trees smashed their way through the lobby wall.

"What are they here for?" Liki asked Bushroot, taking up his usual shape and running along beside them.

"To guard the guards!" Bushroot replied with a giggle, motioned to the trees as they took up positions around the pile of limp guards.

They raced out onto the sidewalk outside the building while Gosalyn checked her watch. "Fifteen minutes until the portal out of here closes!" she yelled to her compatriots, "We're not going to make it if we have to travel on foot!"

"That's been taken care of too!" Bushroot exclaimed, and immediately after he said this, a six-seater motorbike, with two seats apiece on it's two sidecars and two seats on the bike itself, pulled up, being driven by Megavolt, with Quackerjack sitting in the right sidecar.

"Got your message, Bushroot!" Megavolt announced while the others quickly clambered into the Friendly Four motorbike, no questions asked, "Using vines to spell out a message, very clever!"

"Let's chat later!" Gosalyn said, pulling out the P90 and taking the seat behind Megavolt, sitting in it backwards so that she could see behind the motorbike, "We're going to have company!"

And sure enough, almost immediately after they had set off across NegaCanard, a large scale force of police cars, each one armed to the teeth themselves where giving pursuit. The lead car fired first, firing off an small missile.

"Turn! Turn, turn, _turn!"_ Gosalyn told Megavolt quickly, and they turned in time for the missile to sped past and blast a hole into the road.

It seemed that was the only missile the police cars had, for after that point, they opened fire with machine guns built into the roofs of the cars, but where just as dangerous. Gosalyn quickly fired back, shooting the P90 at the cars's tires. She managed to pop one car's front tire, causing it to swerve into a nearby car, and they both crashed.

But two more cars quickly took their place, and it seemed like Gosalyn hadn't achieved anything at all.

"Low Bridge!" Megavolt suddenly called out, as the motorbike sped under a low hanging beam from an abandoned construction site.

The riders all ducked as the beam whooshed by, but the three lead police cars weren't so lucky, the cars themselves being too tall to slip under it, and were brought to a jarring halt as the beam smashed into their roofs, holding up a fourth car who was following behind them. The other cars were able to divert the obstruction, and continued the chase, however.

"Uh-oh!" Megavolt suddenly exclaimed, and were quickly echoed by the motorbike's riders as the street light ahead of them turned red, and a stream of cars suddenly began rushing across their path.

"Hold on!" Megavolt said, and jerked the handlebars to the right, driving the motorbike up onto the sidewalk.

A spray of bullets narrowly missed them, smashing into a store window near them as it whooshed past, showering them with glass. Gosalyn returned fire, but ended up missing as the motorbike bumped past a mailbox, tipping it over. It ended up causing the car Gosalyn had been shooting at to divert it's path however, which pleased Gosalyn slightly.

At that point the motorbike zoomed off the sidewalk and into the busy intersection, just going past one vehicle in one lane, but zoomed right in front of a semi-truck in the other lane. Megavolt leaned the motorbike as it rushed past to avoid getting clipped, causing the side of one of the sidecars to drag against the ground, making a shower of sparks.

The semi, however, surprised, veered unnecessarily to avoid the motorbike and lost control, it's trailer skidding up onto the sidewalk and smashing into the streetlight, knocking it over, nearly onto the motorbike as it zipped into a tunnel. But the upside about it all was the fact that the semi completely blocked the intersection, preventing the police cars from pursuing.

The group cheered at their victory as the exited the tunnel from the other side, only to be cut off short as a large explosion erupted in front of them, causing Megavolt to turn so sharply, the motorbike nearly tipped over. While Megavolt quickly got back on course and worked to regain the lost speed, a large jet zipped over their heads, coming back around for another assault.

It reminded Gosalyn of a heavily armed Thunderquack, but that wasn't what worried her. What worried her, was the fact that even from this distance, she could tell it was NegaGosalyn piloting the jet.

The Negaquack fired off another missile, again narrowly missing the motorbike. Gosalyn fired at it, but the bullets simply bounced off the Negaquack's dark hull. The jet came back around again for another take, firing off it's machine guns, creating large rising clouds of dust and dirt as the bullets struck the ground just shy of their position.

As Gosalyn continued to fire at the Negaquack, Quackjack joined in by throwing a tennis ball at the jet. It fell short, falling under the jet as it zoomed by, before the tennis ball exploded, making Gosalyn realize it was really a grenade. As the Negaquack zoomed by a rooftop garden, Bushroot telepathically asked some vines that were growing there to grab the Negaquack's right wing as it zipped past. The vines obeyed, only to be ripped out of the ground by the jet's momentum.

Darkwing pulled out a gas gun, one he had built here in the Negaverse, and fired several gas canisters at the jet, obstructing NegaGosalyn's aim, but not stopping her. She brought the jet lower, lining up her guns with the motorbike.

Gosalyn fired again, but froze when the P90 suddenly clicked and refused to fire. She was out of ammo. At this point, the Negaquack was so low, it was virtually skimming the a few feet off of the ground. It was so close that Gosalyn could see the machine guns preparing to fire, see NegaGosalyn grinning broadly as she saw her prey grow closer, and was deafened by the load roar of the Negaquack's jet turbines.

The jet turbines...

Without thinking, Gosalyn hurled the useless P90 into the turbine's intake. With a loud grinding sound, that jet engine burst into flames. The Negaquack wobbled for a moment, then crashed into the ground, skidding along right behind them. Worried that they'd get run over by the downed jet, Megavolt wisely put on an extra burst of speed and zoomed faster, as the Negaquack's wings got tangled up with to lampposts, getting torn off, and effectively bringing the entire jet to a sudden halt.

Gosalyn breathed a sigh of relief, and checked her watch. Five minutes remained until time was up.

"We're here!" Bushroot exclaimed, pointing at the abandoned office building that was the SHUSH building in the Posiverse.

Megavolt pulled the motorbike up to the sidewalk, stopping long enough for Gosalyn and Darkwing to hop off.

"Thanks again for everything!" Darkwing called, and Gosalyn dragged him into the building, knowing they didn't have any time to waste.

"Goodbye Darkwing!" Quackerjack called as the motorbike zoomed away again, "Give Negs a black eye for us!"

Quickly, Gosalyn and Darkwing rushed down to the bottom-most floor of the building, and rushed into the empty room, heading straight for the portal. Just as it began to shrink in preparation to closing, the two dived through it, crashing onto the cement floor on the other side.

Footsteps echoed out all around them as everyone came rushing to their aide. Slowly and wearily, Gosalyn looked around, seeing the familiar equipment of the inter-dimensional portal generator, now powering down, and seeing the concerned faces of Launchpad, Honker, and Hooter, looking down on them.

Gosalyn let out a sigh of relief, grinning. She was home. And even better, she thought as she turned to look at her adopted father, picking himself off proudly while shaking off the help offered to him, she had brought Darkwing home.

She let Honker help her up, giving her friend a hug in the process, happy to be home.

"Welcome back Darkwing Duck!" Hooter was saying. "We've all missed your services here at SHUSH!"

"Thank you Director Hooter, it's good to be back." Darkwing answered, adjusting his hat. "What did I miss?"

"Not much, St. Canard has been fairly peaceful during the seven years you've been gone." Hooter explained. "But recently, Negaduck has broken the Fearsome Five out of jail, and now they are on a rampage all over the city."

"Does he have control of the city yet?" Gosalyn asked, worried. Were they too late?

"Not yet." Hooter replied. "But chaos does. Everyone is in a panic."

"What has Negaduck done so far?" Darkwing asked, leading the way to the door with the others following.

"First, he as stolen a top-secret SHUSH super suit that gives him extremely powerful abilities." Hooter explained. "He's now using it to break into banks and steal money, and the rest of the Fearsome Five are attacking every opposing force that stand in their way with disastrous results on our side."

"And you need me to save the day." Darkwing summed up as they entered SHUSH's lobby.

"Yes." Hooter replied, gratefully.

"Great!" Gosalyn exclaimed, stepping forward, "We'll get them, Darkwing, all we have to do is..."

"No, Gosalyn, I want you stay here, where it's safe." Darkwing quickly interrupted.

"But..." Gosalyn began, surprised she was being left behind. "I want to help!"

"It's too dangerous, Gos!" Darkwing insisted.

"Too dangerous!?" Gosalyn repeated, bewildered. "I just helped save you from eternal imprisonment in the Negaverse! I think I can handle it!"

"I'm sorry Gosalyn, the discussion is closed." Darkwing said. "This is something entirely different to that, and I'd feel better if I knew you were here, where it's safe." and with that, and a dramatic swish of his cape, he walked out the door. "C'mon, Launchpad, I'll need your flying skills."

"Okey-doke." Launchpad replied, following, pausing long enough to give Gosalyn a sympathetic look.

Gosalyn watched them go, mad that she was being forced out of this mess when she had practically had dealt with it on her own up until now, and sad and worried for Darkwing's well being. She knew that just Darkwing wasn't going to be enough to bring down Negaduck.

Honker seemed to know what she was thinking, and took her hand. "It's still night out, so I'm available to help you." he offered politely.

Gosalyn gave him a thankful grin. "Thanks Honk." she said, making up her mind. "I'm going to need it."


	24. Darkwing Duck Returns

Chapter 24

Darkwing Duck Returns

St. Canard seemed deceptively quiet and peaceful as the Thunderquack soared over the prosperous city, brought out of storage for the first time in seven years, fully functional. Darkwing watched from the passenger's seat at the sprawling metropolis zip by, feeling thrilled that he was back where he belonged, but at the same time, feeling like he never left.

"It looks like nothing even changed while I was gone." Darkwing remarked to Launchpad, adjusting the hat of the clean costume he had switched into while they had stopped at the tower to get the Thunderquack.

"Sure it has." Launchpad said in response. "You just can't really see it from here. However, if you look there, you can see that new finance building that went up just two years ago." he pointed at a building towering over the others around it, definitely looking newer than the rest.

Darkwing studied it for a few moments. "Didn't a Hamburger Hippo used to be on that corner?" he asked.

"Yeah." Launchpad said. "That's why I can so easily point it out. There was a big controversy over whether or not to tear down the Hamburger Hippo just to put a finance building in it's place."

"Wonder why." Darkwing remarked sarcastically, rolling his eyes, having never liked the restaurant anyway.

But now that Launchpad had pointed out one change to St. Canard, Darkwing started seeing several others, most of them little ones that everyone else had probably taken for granted by now. He noticed that technology all over the city had got up in quality and abilities, that several of the models of cars that he knew and loved were no longer around, replaced with the newer, sleeker models.

Gosalyn's school also had two new additions on it, and Darkwing made a mental note to ask Gosalyn more about those additions once this was all over, only to scratch it out in the end when he realized Gosalyn no longer went to that school. That was the elementary school. Gosalyn would be in high school now.

Darkwing frowned when, not for the first time, really realized just how much he had missed in those seven years. He had missed out on all of these changes and improvements to his most favorite city, had missed out on all of the events and celebrations that had occurred, and, most importantly, had missed out on seven years of Gosalyn's life, time in which was vital to her growth.

Even though it seemed like Gosalyn had managed just fine without him, Darkwing cursed himself for not being there for Gosalyn during those seven years. He wondered if there was any possible way to make it up to Gosalyn, and doubted it. But at least he could try.

But there were more important things he had to take care of first.

"Approaching coordinates of the Fearsome Five hideout." Launchpad announced suddenly, turning the Thunderquack sharply to bring the jet on a direct course to the destination. "SHUSH intelligence says that's where they all are at the moment, unloading from their latest raid."

Darkwing nodded, and readied himself for the fight that was about to begin.

"I am the terror that flaps in the night." he said to help get himself into the spirit of things. "I am seven years behind in the happenings that have occurred in this city! But I'm Darkwing Duck! And I'm back!"

* * *

From afar, but not by much, Negaduck watched the Thunderquack loom closer from the pilot's seat of the Negacopter.

Bushroot, sitting in the passenger's seat, followed Negaduck's gaze. Seeing the Thunderquack, he blinked in surprise. "Took them long enough." he said. "For awhile there I thought they didn't care what they did, for they haven't tried very hard to stop us."

Surprisingly, Negaduck nodded calmly in agreement, pulling out a pair of binoculars to get a better look at the oncoming, opposing, craft.

"Why haven't they fired upon us?" Bushroot thought out loud, "We must be well within their range by now."

"We're _invisible _at the moment, you knob." Negaduck said, annoyed, "They can't see us."

"Oh, right." Bushroot said, slapping himself on the head for his stupidity. He gazed out at the Thunderquack again. "I guess you didn't beat that girl-pretending-to-be-Darkwing like you thought, boss." he remarked.

"That's why I'm in charge and you are not, Bushroot." Negaduck said, narrowing his eyes as he set aside the binoculars. "Because that's not Gosalyn Mallard." he paused, a plan already coming to mind for his prey. "That's Darkwing..."

* * *

"Here's the plan LP." Darkwing explained to Launchpad as they drew nearer to their destination. "You bring the Thunderquack to hover over the hideout real quiet like, then we'll engage Plan R to catch them by surprise. Once I'm down there, I'll cause a distraction that should buy you enough time to drop some smoke grenades on the hideout, confusing the Fearsome Five enough, that apprehending them should be a piece of cake."

"What about Negaduck?" Launchpad asked, playing the plan out in his head. "Wouldn't he have some way to defend himself against that plan?"

"Well, obviously, I won't catch him this way." Darkwing admitted. "But this is just a preliminary attack, intended simply to get his lackeys. Once we've got them, it'll slow Negaduck down, not to mention making him that much easier to nab. Then he's mine."

Launchpad shook his head. "I don't know, DW." He said. "You sure this plan will work?"

"Of _course_ it will work, it's _my_ plan!" Darkwing declared, annoyed. "My plans always work! That's why _I'm_ the superhero! Besides, the only way this plan _couldn't_ work is if Negaduck got the jump on me _first,_ so-"

But he was cut off suddenly as the Thunderquack suddenly jerked and veered to the right, going off course.

"Launchpad!" Darkwing exclaimed, thinking this was the pilot's fault.

"I'm trying!" Launchpad said, struggling with the controls. "But she's not responding anymore!"

The Thunderquack, on it's own, made a complete u-turn, then veered at a downward angle in the opposite direction they had been heading in. It continued on that course relentlessly for several moments, bringing itself ever closer to the many rooftops of St. Canard. But, just when Darkwing thought they were going to crash, something happened.

The Thunderquack suddenly jerked sideways like it just hit an invisible wall. Then it happened again, sending the jet into a flat spin. It skimmed over the buildings for several moments before bouncing off of one, slowing it's spin. The craft then began to nosedive, on a course that should've taken it off the edge of one roof and sent it hurtling into the third floor of a neighboring building.

But just as the jet cleared the roof ledge, it smashed into a previously invisible forcefield, the plane's momentum causing it to skid along the forcefield until it came to a stop, suspended, over a busy street.

Darkwing pushed himself off of the control panel he had been thrown against, rubbing his head and looking around, watching the citizens on the street below scatter in panic.

"Uh, DW..." Launchpad suddenly said, staring straight ahead of them.

Darkwing glanced up, and saw Negaduck walking towards them, suspended in mid-air, the silver super suit he wore casting a faint aura of energy as it worked it's magic.

"Fancy seeing you here, Darkwing." Negaduck shouted, his voice enhanced so all could hear.

Darkwing reached for the lever that would open the Thunderquack's canopy, but before he could, the forcefield holding them and the plane up suddenly vanished, and they dropped four stories to the ground with a loud crash.

Righting himself after being jerked out of place once again, Darkwing saw Negaduck descend slowly out of the air to land softly in the middle of the almost abandoned street.

"So nice of you to drop in." Negaduck remarked, raising one hand dramatically in an odd motion. "Here, let me make you comfortable."

Then, like an invisible hand grabbed a hold of it, the canopy on the Thunderquack was suddenly ripped off. Darkwing started to react in response, but then his seatbelt snapped, and he found himself flung int the air, to come to hover in front of Negaduck.

"Telekinesis." Negaduck explained. "Cool, isn't it?"

Then Darkwing was thrown aside by that same invisible hand, the left side of his body grinding into the ground. Negaduck turned to face him, then leapt insanely high into the air. Darkwing whipped out his gas gun and began shooting at Negaduck as the supervillain soared through the air, but each shot fell short. Negaduck landed on top of Darkwing, either one of his webbed feet planting itself on either side of Darkwing's body. Darkwing prepared to fire another canister of gas, but Negaduck slapped the gas gun out of his hands.

"I must admit, I didn't expect to find you here." Negaduck said cooly, peering down on him.

"I had help." Darkwing replied defiantly.

"And yet," Negaduck said, mocking a thoughtful persona, "That help isn't here."

Darkwing then got thrown straight up into the air by the invisible hand, going up aways, then starting back down again. Negaduck's left arm then stretched out to twice it's length which the double used like a baseball bat, and knocked Darkwing into a wall with tremendous force.

"DW!" Launchpad exclaimed, clambering out of the Thunderquack to rush to Darkwing's aide, only to be thrown aside by the invisible hand into a pile of garbage.

Picking himself, and using the incident as a distraction, Darkwing made a break for the Thunderquack. But then the Negacopter literally appeared out of nowhere and landed in front of cutting him off from the downed jet. Leaving the engine on idle, the rest of the Fearsome Five then hopped out, eager to join in the fight.

Darkwing skidded to a halt, then began to run in the opposite direction. Megavolt stopped him by sending a low-level bolt of electricity in his direction, knocking him in a different direction. Darkwing didn't even land before a potted plant in a windowsill swelled to several times it's size and grabbed Darkwing with it's limbs, stopping his fall.

Only to be hurled upwards again, getting knocked once more into a wall and sliding down into a pool of water. Darkwing immediately saw this was trouble and started to get up to flee, but the pool of water quickly sprung upward and around him spinning rapidly to form a cyclone. Darkwing covered his face with one arm as the water swirled around him faster and faster, The Liquidator's face popping out occasionally to laugh mockingly.

Then an arm suddenly shot through the swirling water, grabbed Darkwing by the collar, then dragged him back through the wall of water, coming face to face with Negaduck.

"You've met you're match Darkwing." Negaduck growled angrily, "you should've never have come back to try to stop me, because now I have to kill you." he grinned wickedly. "And who better to kill an incompetent fool like you, than the incompetent fools who serve me!"

With a dramatic swing, he flung Darkwing over to the rest of the Fearsome Five. "He's all yours boys!" Negaduck called.

The four supervillains quickly encircled Darkwing, each one of them staring at Darkwing eagerly.

"I say we put him in the electric chair." Megavolt said, rubbing his hands eagerly as they made intermittent sparks.

"Studies show that method is too quick for profit." Liki bubbled, taking a step towards Darkwing. "Now drowning, on the other hand, is highly recommended."

Darkwing gulped as Liki started to turn into a wave, but Bushroot quickly stopped him.

"You've got to be kidding me!" the mutant plant-duck declared. "We're _supervillains_ after all! We can be more creative than that! I know, just leave him alone with me and the plant kingdom for a few hours, and we'll take care of him!"

"But why do you get all of the fun?" Quackerjack exclaimed. "I vote..."

But Quackerjack was cut off as an argument erupted between Megavolt and Liki which quickly spread to the others. Darkwing tried to use this moment to escape, but Negaduck, who was idly strolling around and around the group, watching the proceedings, thrust him back into the encirclement with ease.

Finally, the argument was broken up by Quackerjack, who made a proposal.

"Why don't we all take turns doing what we want with him?" he said.

"But then only one of us gets to kill him." Megavolt quickly pointed out.

"True," Quackerjack admitted, "But once he's dead, we can make sure there's nothing left of him to even salvage!"

The others seemed to like this idea, so after a brief game of rock, paper, scissors, it was decided that Quackerjack would go first. Pulling out an axe, Quackerjack leveled it with Darkwing's neck, then brought it up over his head to swing.

"NO!"

An arrow suddenly whizzed out of nowhere with enough force that it struck the wooden handle of Quackerjack's axe, knocking it out of his hands, then continuing straight on through the handle to embed itself into the metal hull of the nearby Negacopter.

Darkwing was first to turn to look in the direction of his savior in relief. Megavolt, Liki, Quackerjack and Bushroot quickly followed. Launchpad came next, still lying in the pile of garbage, previously too shocked to move, making Negaduck last to turn, who glared viciously at the newcomer.

Gosalyn brought the Ratcatcher to a skidding halt, dressed in yet another spare Darkwing costume, Honker sitting in the sidecar dressed as Arrow Kid, holding up the bow he had used to fire the arrow in victory.

Gosalyn stared straight at Negaduck, however. "I have a score to settle with you, Negs." she said darkly.


	25. Let's Get Dangerous

One more chapter to go after this one, almost done!

Chapter 25

Let's Get Dangerous

"You!" Negaduck exclaimed, surging forward in rage, "You don't know when to stop, do you?!" He made a motion in preparation to unleash the super suit's power onto Gosalyn.

"Well, _keen gear, _I guess I don't, do I?" Gosalyn replied cooly and deliberately.

"No!" Negaduck exclaimed, as the super suit heard Gosalyn's voice utter it's activation password, and quickly began to melt off of Negaduck, heading towards Gosalyn.

Negaduck reached for his tape recorder that had the recording of Gosalyn saying the password on it, but it was too late, the suit had already reformed on Gosalyn, giving her the powers now. And she quickly tried to make use of them, by sending out a wave of energy at Negaduck to knock him aside, but ending up flying straight up into the air instead.

It was Honker that reacted, by firing an arrow off at Negaduck, making the villain back off. Gosalyn quickly stopped her ascent several feet over the street below and quickly reoriented herself, trying to get enough control of the suit to use it to it's full potential.

This time she tried super-stretching her arms, like she had seen Negaduck do, out to grab Honker and pull him to safety. Instead, she accidently let loose a bolt of electricity in the opposite direction of her target, nearly hitting Megavolt. Even though he was immune to the bolt, Megavolt fled, and his fellow villains did likewise, leaving Darkwing alone and unguarded.

Darkwing took this chance to pounce on Negaduck, who was about to draw his pistol. The two rolled around on the street wrestling for several moments, both of them throwing insults at each other intermittently. While they were doing this, Gosalyn used the only power she could control and flew down to Honker and pulled him out of immediate harms way, which was fortunate, because Negaduck finally broke free of the fight and open fired at the spot Honker had been at only moments before.

That done, Gosalyn then swooped down and landed, throwing her arms forward at Negaduck, hoping something would happen that she could use to her advantage. To her surprise, she released a small snowstorm at Negaduck, freezing everything in it's path. Negaduck saw it coming, however, and nimbly leapt aside. The storm zoomed onward, narrowly missing Darkwing, then striking the ground, creating a large patch of ice.

Negaduck then reached into his pocket and began to pull something out. Thinking it was a weapon, Gosalyn took to the air, soaring right over Negaduck's head. It was a mistake. Negaduck pulled out not a weapon, but his tape recorder, pressing play in the process.

"Keen gear!"

Like a vacuum turning on, the super suit was sucked off of Gosalyn and onto Negaduck, leaving Gosalyn suspended in the air for a split second before gravity took over and she fell to the ground.

Gosalyn quickly leapt up again, beginning to say the suit's password again, but all that she got out was "Kee" before Negaduck reacted quicker and released the same wave of energy that Gosalyn had tried to produce earlier, knocking Gosalyn aside.

Darkwing tried pouncing on Negaduck again, but the supervillain then turned the wave onto the superhero, and immediately afterwards on Honker and Launchpad, both of which tried to do the same as Darkwing from different angles. Gosalyn tried to rush forward to help, but then Megavolt appeared and stood in her path.

"You're not going anywhere!" he exclaimed, building up a charge of electrical energy to fire at Gosalyn.

Gosalyn stomped on his foot in response, and quickly side-stepped him as Megavolt bent over to clutch his aching foot. Gosalyn ran forward, but Quackerjack and Bushroot stood in her path, cutting her off from the rest of the fight where Negaduck singlehandedly kept his foes at bay.

Except for Gosalyn.

"Keen gear!" Gosalyn quickly shouted, then quickly ducked as Quackerjack and Bushroot dived at her, heard Negaduck's outcry of rage, and stepped forward to accept the arrival of the super suit again.

Feeling the suit take shape on her, she swung a punch at Negaduck. Her arm super-stretched out unexpectedly in the process, knocking not only Negaduck over, but swung around and knocked over Bushroot and Quackerjack in the process.

Seeing a nearby alley, Gosalyn ran towards it before Negaduck could regain his orientation and follow suit. The plant Bushroot had enlarged earlier to fight Darkwing stepped in her way, but was easily moved with a swipe of Gosalyn's hand, and it fly upward, over her head, and down upon it's own, or at least what Gosalyn considered to be it's head.

She quickly ducked into the alley, and found Darkwing, Honker, and Launchpad awaiting her there.

"What's the plan Gos?" Launchpad asked urgently, knowing time was short.

"First we got to keep the super suit out of Negaduck's hands, and since I'm the only other one who has a means to give it commands, it'll have to be me." Gosalyn said. "Second, the rest of the Fearsome Five are starting to get in the way. We need to even out the playing field a bit if we expect to win."

"Sounds like a plan!" Darkwing said, and gearing up to run out of the alley, "Let's get dangerous!"

He then turned and ran smack into a forcefield Gosalyn quickly whipped up to stop him.

"That's certainly getting dangerous." Honker remarked snidely.

"Not yet!" Gosalyn hissed as Darkwing peeled himself off of the field. "Let's not blow our element of surprise!"

"There they are!" Megavolt's voice suddenly rang out.

"Too late!" Launchpad shouted, pointing at the alley's entrance.

Megavolt stormed in, and let loose a lightning bolt. The others instinctively ducked, but didn't need to, for Gosalyn's forcefield quickly enlarged into a bubble, surrounding them like a shield, absorbing the bolt.

Gosalyn then retaliated to the attack by using the telekinesis power to grab hold of Megavolt's foot and fling it into the air, dragging Megavolt with, effectively sending him head over heels.

The party quickly stormed out of alley and rejoined the fight. Launchpad quickly sat himself down on Megavolt, pinning him to the ground. Honker fired off a few arrows at Quackerjack, how had to back off from attacking. Darkwing retrieved his fallen gas gun, and fired canisters of weed killer at Bushroot and his superplant henchman, also making them back off.

Gosalyn took on The Liquidator, who proved to be quite a foe, swirling and spiraling around and around Gosalyn as she desperately tried to pin him down, until she let out a yell of fury, while at the same time releasing another snowstorm, this one bigger than the last. It caught Liki head on, who was unprepared for the attack, and froze the living liquid solid, putting him out of commission until he melted.

Gosalyn allowed herself a grin of victory, and started to turn to help one of her friends in the fight, when a voice stopped her.

"Oh, Gosalyn!" the voice cooed, sounding like her father.

Gosalyn promptly turned to face it, only to find a grinning Negaduck, pressing play on his tape recorder.

"Keen gear!"

The super suit promptly melted off of Gosalyn and started for Negaduck. Gosalyn was quick to and her own retort.

"Keen gear!"

The suit stopped and started sliding back to Gosalyn. Alarmed, Negaduck quickly rewound the tape and replayed the recording.

"Keen gear!"

"Keen gear!" Gosalyn replied quickly.

"Keen gear!"

"Keen _gear_!"

The suit, stuck in-between them, confused and lost as to what it should do, began to quiver from the stress, getting too much input to function properly. And it would've only gotten worse had the constant exchange of commands kept coming, but Darkwing finally intervened by using his trademark triple-flip-web-kick on Negaduck's exposed and unprotected back, giving the suit chance enough to return to Gosalyn, and for Gosalyn to flee.

Negaduck was quick to pick himself back up, and shoved Darkwing out of his way as he raced after Gosalyn, preparing to play the tape again as soon as he got in range. However, as Gosalynr an, she was confronted by Quackerjack, beginning to lob firecrackers at her, only these firecrackers had a lot more juice than most, exploding violently in small plumes of fire.

Gosalyn dodged the firecrackers until she felt she was close enough to Quackerjack, and swung a punch at the demented toy maker. Normally the punch would've been too far away to cause any real damage, but as she swung the punch, Gosalyn's arm super-stretched outward until it was long enough to cause proper damage. And damage it did, the strength of the punch hurling the toy maker backwards into the still-frozen form of Liki, collapsing to the ground unconscious.

It was then that Gosalyn heard Negaduck's pounding footsteps as he raced towards her, and instinctively ducked. The dive Negaduck had went into to pounce on Gosalyn took him straight over her and into the ground. Dazed, the villain began to pick himself up, but was helped by Gosalyn, using the telekinesis to hurl him high into the air, out of her way until she was ready for him.

Gosalyn then focused her attention on the iced-over Liki and the limp form of Quackerjack, gently used the telekinesis to lift them into the air, then used the power to throw them into the back compartment of the still-idling Negacopter.

"Gosalyn, help!" Honker suddenly shouted out.

Gosalyn whirled about and saw Honker backing away from the advancing Megavolt, completely out of arrows, and having no other means to defend himself. Gosalyn reacted quickly, and just as Megavolt was about to unleash his power onto Honker, he suddenly flew backwards, half-somersaulted in mid air, then crashed to the ground in front of Gosalyn.

Megavolt picked himself up and released a bolt of electricity at Gosalyn. Gosalyn reacted at the same time, and managed to produce the same, an identical bolt of energy. The two bolts met with each other in-between the two, the hero and the villain, created a brilliant ball of white energy.

Both of them struggled to keep the ball of energy that they had managed to produce away from them, and push it towards their opponent. They circled each other in the process, and soon Gosalyn stood where Megavolt originally was, and Megavolt standing where Gosalyn had stood. This continued for several moments, before Gosalyn decided she had enough and gathered her strength and used it to push against the ball of energy. It surged forward unexpectedly and impacted Megavolt with enough force that it hurtled him backwards and into the rear compartment of Negacopter.

Negaduck, who up until now had been held back by Darkwing, finally broke free and charged at Gosalyn, pressing play on his tape recorder.

"Keen gear!"

Gosalyn reacted quickly, and before the suit had even fully melted off of her, she shouted "keen gear!" as well.

And again they got into the constant exchange of the key phrase, the suit caught undecided in the middle. And then the suit did something completely unexpected. It split into two. One side went to Gosalyn, and the other to Negaduck. Surprised, the two stared at each other for a moment, but Negaduck quickly recovered.

Using the telekinesis power, he picked up a nearby parked car and the Ratcatcher and hurled them at Gosalyn. Gosalyn reacted quickly, throwing up a forcefield shield, the vehicles simply bouncing off and crashing to the ground. Negaduck then stomped his feet, and a small earthquake was produced, creating a large crack in the ground that spread from Negaduck to Gosalyn.

Gosalyn then took to the air to avoid the crack opening up from underneath her, soaring over the street and her opponent. Negaduck fired off blue bolts of energy at Gosalyn, which she had to now dodge, and even phase through, in order to avoid. As Negaduck fought, he failed to see Darkwing sneak up behind him, and pounced onto him, latching himself to the villain, breaking his concentration. Gosalyn landed again, standing near the Negacopter. A shadow then fell over her, and looking up, she saw Bushroot's super-plant henchman he had produced.

"Go get her!" Bushroot commanded from behind the plant with glee.

Gosalyn whirled around and used the first power that obeyed her commands. The plant suddenly froze, twitched involuntarily, then began to shrink back into it's original form, which was a pansy.

Buhsroot stared at it, then, with fear, looked back at Gosalyn.

Gosalyn raised an eyebrow at him. "Never underestimate this suit's power." she remarked.

Bushroot then began backing up, fearing Gosalyn's impending onslaught of power, but that wasn't what he should be fearing, for suddenly Honker and Launchpad lunged out of nowhere and tackled the mutant plant-duck, hurling into the back of the Negacotpter where the rest of the group was and slammed the door shut on them.

They gave Gosalyn a high five in victory, but the victory ended quickly when Negaduck broke free of his fight with Darkwing, and while using part of the telekinesis ability to hold the hero at bay, he used the other half to bring Gosalyn to him, suspended in midair, and to immobilize Launchpad and Honker by rasing them into the air, where they couldn't do anything.

Ngeaduck grinned victoriously. "Any last words, Gos?" he asked darkly.

"Yeah, just two." Gosalyn said, then exclaimed, "Keen gear!"

She and her companions flopped to the ground as the half of the suit she wore melted off of her, as well as Negaduck's half. And just as she had hoped, the suit ran into a programming error, and didn't know what to do now, for now there was two of it, and it didn't know how it should react to the other half.

Gosalyn used that to her advantage by running away, yelling at the top of her lungs, "Keen gear!" over and over again. "Keen gear, keen gear, keen gear, _keen gear_!"

The suit began to tremble, and spark, and suddenly, it began to convulse violently. Negaduck caught on to what was happening, and ran for the Negacopter. Darkwing, Launchpad, and Honker followed Gosalyn's example and sought shelter.

"Keen gear, keen gear, keen gear, keen gear, keen gear, keen gear, keen gear, look out!"

The suit shook violently, shaking the street along with it, and began to flash various powers at random, then, it suddenly stopped, shrank inward slowly, then suddenly expanded outward and exploded violently, taking half of the street with it, blowing Darkwing, Launchpad, Honker, and Gosalyn over.

Meanwhile, Negaduck clambered into the pilot's seat of the Negacopter, and started taking off, knowing that his plan was pretty much unsalvageable now, and the police where starting to arrive. The helicopter lifted off of the ground until it hovered over the rooftops of the nearby buildings, pivoted around on it's z-axis, then soared off into the sunrise and was gone.

Slowly, Gosalyn picked herself up, favoring the many sore spots she had all over her body. Glacing over, she saw Darkwing doing the same. Launchpad simply lay on the ground, too stunned to move yet, and Honker was sitting up, clutching his head. The citizens that had sought shelter when the fight began surveyed the damage, and the situation, and slowly began to step out into the open.

They saw who were the only ones still present at the fight seen, put two and two together and began to applaud. Gosalyn and Darkwing looked at each other in surprise, and they began to bow in acknowledgment. This only stirred the crowd up even more, and the applauding grew louder, added, now, with cheering.

"I think, over the seven years I was gone, this was what I missed most about being a superhero." Darkwing remarked idly to Gosalyn.

"The applause?" Gosalyn asked, "Because you didn't get much of that in your day."

"Not just the applause." Darkwing said. "It's the sense of victory that I missed. That, and the fact that I usually shared that victory with friends...and family."

He embraced his adopted daughter, Gosalyn returning the gesture, listening to the encore all four of them were receiving...


	26. A New Dawn

Last Chapter! Enjoy!

Chapter 26

A New Dawn

"Gosalyn! Get out of the cookie jar!"

Gosalyn stomped her foot in disappointment, and replaced the cookie she had just pulled out back in the jar. Carefully replacing the lid, she turned to face her adopted father, who had snuck up behind her, catching her red-handed. She scowled at him in mock fury.

Drake Mallard only grinned. "You know the rules Gosalyn, no sweets an hour before dinnertime." he said.

"I know." Gosalyn bemoaned as he stalked out, "I was hoping you forgot though."

"Heh, not a chance." Drake replied, stepping up to the cookie jar and reaching his own hand in. "I may have been gone for seven years, but I didn't forget the rules."

Gosalyn stopped and turned to watch him. "So how come _you _can get into the cookie jar?" she asked.

Drake froze, then grinned sheepishly. "Parent's prerogative." he answered.

They looked at one another for several moments, before Drake realized that his daughter wasn't buying it and dejectedly handed her a cookie, while keeping him one for himself.

Gosalyn grinned victoriously while munching away at the cookie. "You've got seven years to catch up on, Dad." she said. "Things have changed around here."

"You know, I've noticed that." Drake remarked sarcastically, but with jest, "Thankfully, not _too_ much has changed."

Gosalyn only grinned before they both walked off, heading to separate destinations.

It had been five days since the battle over the super suit with Negaduck, and five days since it was publically announced by Darkwing himself that was back, and this time to stay. Four of those days Drake spent as Darkwing, going about reacquainting himself with the city, have numerous press conferences (for the press was having a heyday over this, to Darkwing's delight) and getting things squared away for his return.

Today he was spending as Drake Mallard, his first official day back as his secret identity. They had all agreed to wait before revealing Drake was back, so to avoid anyone noticing just how coincidental it was for Darkwing to turn up at the same time as Drake. They were planning to celebrate by going out to eat tonight, and Drake had every intention of spending it with his family.

Although if he'd get that chance was unknown, because Negaduck and his gang were _still _out there somewhere, loose for the first time in seven years. At the moment, they had done nothing over the past five days, and Darkwing speculated that they were probably still recuperating from the battle with the super suit. Not to mention that their old hideout was taken over by the police. Since they weren't there and never arrived there after the police did, it's obvious that they have a new hideout, or are in the process of looking for one.

But it didn't take a genius to know that Negaduck was undoubtably planning his revenge right now, and it would only be a matter of time before he struck again. Darkwing would be ready to fight, but he wanted all the time he could get first to catch up on the changes that had occurred in the years he had been gone, so that he wouldn't run into anything and be caught off guard.

Gosalyn thought, however, that at the very least until that point was reached, Darkwing should have help.

Speaking of which...

Gosalyn abruptly stopped and changed directions, following after her father into his office, which Drake was in the middle of cleaning.

"Yes, Gosalyn?" he asked politely, noticing his daughter enter the room.

"Dad, question, um..." Gosalyn hesitated for a moment, almost fearing the answer, "Have you given any more thought to my proposal?"

Drake stopped what he was doing for a moment, and sighed despairingly. "You know how I feel about that Gosalyn." he said.

"Yes, but times have changed greatly Dad, especially as of late." Gosalyn retorted calmly.

"I know." Drake admitted, sifting through a pile of papers. "Which is why I can't just say no."

"So your just going to find an excuse to say no." Gosalyn guessed.

"I didn't say that."

"But that's what your hoping to do."

Drake half frowned, half grinned. "Nothing will get by you anymore, will it Gosalyn?" he remarked, feeling frustrated that the choice wouldn't be so easy, but proud that his daughter was making it that way so skillfully.

"Did I ever?" Gosalyn replied.

Drake's grin grew. But then he was serious. "Gosalyn, I know I've let you on patrols in the past, but those were under special circumstances, and..." he trailed off, not wanting to say anything that would make the choice for him. "Just...give me some more time to think about it."

"Okay." Gosalyn replied. "Fine. I respect that Dad. I can understand your unwillingness to allow me to join Darkwing in the fight against crime. But, in addition to that, give this some thought as well."

Drake looked up from what he was doing, expectantly looking at his daughter.

"Just know that Darkwing _needs_ my help now." Gosalyn said. "To be honest, he can't afford not to."

And with that final comment, she left, leaving Drake to dwell on the matter.

* * *

The next day, Gosalyn returned to school like nothing had ever happened. She took personal joy in seeing the student body abuzz with the events that had happened in the past two weeks, especially when the subject fell onto the thing that seemed to really grasp St. Canard's interest. Darkwing's helper in the battle with Negaduck, currently only known as the "female Darkwing", until an official name was announced for her. 

If there was going to be one.

"Hi Gos!" Honker said, suddenly appearing at Gosalyn's side. "Great day today, isn't it?"

Gosalyn grinned. "Something's got you all cheerful." she noted to her friend. "What, did you get an A+++ on your science quiz?"

Honker shook his head. "No, only an A++." he replied. "I don't know what it is, but there's something special about today."

"Is there really?" Gosalyn said idly as they passed a group of girls, arguing over a picture of Darkwing. She had to shake her head at that, wondering how her Dad would react to it.

"Don't tell me you don't feel it too?" Honker said.

"Of course I feel it, Honk." Gosalyn said. "But I think that for me, it'd be obvious what."

She gestured to the crowded hallway. It seemed like she and Honker were the only ones not talking about Darkwing's return.

Honker readjusted his glasses. "Yeah, I guess it would." he admitted.

They fell silent for several moments as they walked onward. Finally, Honker broke the silence.

"Gos?"

"Yes Honker?"

"Well, I've been thinking about all that's happened lately, and well, I started thinking that there was quite a bit to think about, so I thought, maybe, to help _not_ think about, get a chance to relax, and, well, I thought..."

"Yes?"

"Well, see there's this new movie coming out that you said you were interested in, you know, the one with all of the aliens? Anyway, I was thinking that maybe...well... you and I...could, er...you know..."

"Wait." Gosalyn said, stopping, stifling a giggle, "_Wait,_ are you saying what I think you're saying?"

"Well...I guess I am." Honker admitted.

Gosalyn grinned, turning to face him. "How does Friday night sound?" she asked.

"Um, sure!" Honker replied.

Gosalyn was still grinning as she continued walking again, with Honker watching her leave.

"See you after school Honker." she called after him.

Honker nodded, then grinning himself, left as well.

* * *

Later that day, Gosalyn returned home to find no one there. Wandering into the kitchen, she found a note from her dad. It said: 

"_Gosalyn,_

_The news folk wanted a live interview with Darkwing, so me and Launchpad_

_have rushed over to give them one. Should be airing just as you come home_

_if you want to watch. Sorry for the inconvenience, but we'll be home soon._

_ -Dad"_

Gosalyn grinned, not surprised that Darkwing didn't turn down the opportunity. Replacing the note on the counter where she found it, she stepped into the living room, sat down on the couch and turned on the TV to see this interview. It didn't take long to find the right channel.

"...do everything in my power to stop him, yes." Darkwing was in the middle of saying in response to a question. "Negaduck and his gang can't hide forever, and Negaduck has no intention of doing so. He'll be back, and when he does come back, that's when I'll get him."

"Can you give us any time estimates for that?" one reporter asked.

"Unfortunately no, Negaduck holds that card, and he knows it." Darkwing replied.

"So Mr. Darkwing, where _have_ you been these past seven years?" another reporter asked.

"Around." Darkwing said. "I'm not at liberty to say all of the details, but I can say that Negaduck is mostly responsible for my long absence."

"In what way, Mr Darkwing? Did he have you captured, and you're only just now escaping, or did you spend the last seven years just trying to fight him, only succeeding now?"

Darkwing looked slightly stunned at the rather accusing question, and didn't give an immediate answer.

"I think that's not really what matters." Launchpad suddenly filled in for Darkwing, standing nearby. "What matters is that we did beat Negaduck, and he is still in a position to be beaten even more. And Darkwing's already proven that he's the duck to do it."

The reporters took interest in this, and focused their next few questions on Launchpad.

"Mr. McQuack, it has been long known that you are Darkwing's sidekick and pilot, but have you ever had any regrets to your position? Have you thought of doing something else?"

"Well, sure, but uh..."

"Mr. McQuack, how well do you know Darkwing?"

"DW? Oh, quite well...

"How well?"

"Very well."

"Well enough to know who's really behind the mask?"

"Let's wrap this up, please." Darkwing quickly interrupted, checking his watch. "I have other places to be."

"One more question then, Mr. Darkwing." a reporter said. "When will we see the female Darkwing again?"

Gosalyn suddenly gave the TV her undivided attention, caught off guard by the question. It looked like she wasn't the only one, too.

"Well, er..." Darkwing said, "Why do you ask?"

"No offense, Mr. Darkwing, but even though your popularity in St. Canard has skyrocketed in the past few days, this new mysterious partner of yours has nearly double of St. Canard's attention. Many citizens want to know more about her, and if she'll be coming back, either to partner up with you, or go solo."

Gosalyn's beak was now planted to the TV screen. She didn't want to miss a second of this.

Darkwing was quiet for a long moment of time. "This female Darkwing, as you call her." he eventually began. "I happen to know her quite well. Originally, she only appeared to assist me, in the battle with Negaduck, as you all know."

He paused, for what seemed like an eternity for Gosalyn.

"I suppose it's only natural that St. Canard wants to know more of her." Darkwing continued, choosing his words carefully. "Since you don't know much of her altogether. However, if you knew her as well as I do, you'd now that she is quite young, more young than you'd think for a person who does hero work."

He paused again, leaving Gosalyn hanging on his last sentence.

"I think that's what makes her stand out from the rest," Darkwing continued. "is her age. And even though she is so young, she is far more than capable at this job. Now, back to your original question, will St. Canard see her again?"

Gosalyn waited anxiously, the answer she had been waiting for.

Darkwing's answer was brief and simple. "I think the odds of that are pretty good, maybe even better than any of us think."

And with that, the interview ended.

* * *

When Drake and Launchpad returned home in time for dinner, no one discussed the interview. There really wasn't much to discuss. Dinner was eaten in silence because of it. Afterwards, everyone went their separate ways. Gosalyn went into the living room to watch TV, Drake locked himself in his office for an unspecified period of time, and Launchpad first went out back to water the garden, then went to the Tower to work on the Thunderquack, which was still getting repairs for the damage it had suffered from the battle with the Fearsome Five. 

After Launchpad left, Gosalyn wasn't sure how long she was left alone in the room, staring at the TV, but not really watching it. She wasn't exactly sure, even, when Drake finally came back out of his office, only made aware of his presence when he cleared his throat suddenly.

"Can I talk with you for a moment, Gosalyn?" Drake asked.

Gosalyn nodded, and put the TV on mute.

Drake stepped around the couch and sat down next to her. "Listen, Gos, I've honestly been thinking quite hard about your...offer...to team up with me full time. And I know you saw the interview, so I'm pretty sure you were clued in to this already."

Gosalyn nodded quietly.

"And upon losing sleep over it all, it really all came down to not whether you had the capabilities to do it, but really how to go about doing it." Drake continued. He paused, waiting to see if Gosalyn had anything to say, fidgeting uncomfortably. When Gosalyn said nothing, he pulled a box out from behind his back.

"Well...here." he said, handing her the box, not having anything else to say for the moment.

Gosalyn stared at the box for a moment, then accepted it, pulling off it's lid. Inside was a copy of Darkwing's costume, but instead of having the traditional purple and pink colors, this one was black with red trim. And it was in her size.

Shocked, Gosalyn pulled it out, holding it up for her to see better. Beside her, Drake grinned.

"I was under the impression that you didn't want to be Quiverwing anymore, by the simple fact that you kept impersonating me." he said proudly. "So, I was thinking you could be something like, say, the Crimson Avenger, or something like that."

Gosalyn hugged her father. "Thank you." she said. "It's great. It really is."

They stayed that way for several moments, before Drake pulled her off.

"Now, if we're going to do this, there are some rules I need to lay out." Drake continued. "No patrolling all night on school nights, no going anywhere without telling me first, not taking on any major villain single-handedly, no driving the Ratcatcher until you get your driver's licence, and no flying the Thunderquack, _period._ Oh, and if your grades in anyway start to decline because your too busy helping me, then no more hero work until you get them back up. Understood?"

"Understood." Gosalyn said, so thrilled that she was going to get to do any hero work, that she was willing to agree to anything.

Drake smiled, wrapping one arm around his daughter. "This is going to be great, you and me, working together. Though, now I must admit, some of my key phrases are going to be messed up by this."

They were silent for a moment, watching the muted TV.

"I..." Drake began

"We." Gosalyn corrected, already knowing what he was going to say.

"Right, we. We are the terrors that flap in the night. I am the chill that runs down your spine."

"I am the slow connection your Internet service provides." Gosalyn added.

"I am Darkwing Duck." Drake concluded.

"And I am the Crimson Avenger." Gosalyn said, then added, "I think I could get used to this."

"You and me both." Drake replied. "You and me both."

* * *

The end. For now anyway. I plan to write a sequel, since I did kind of leave it at a cliffhanger (I mean, negaduck and the gang are still out there) The problem is that I have so MANY ideas, it'd be hard to colloberate them into one, plus, I promised the folks in the Fantastic Four fandom that I'd write a sequel to a story I wrote there, a project that got set aside when I started "Darkwing Duck Returns", so i think it's only fair that I set aside Darkwing to finish that sequel. 

So, until we meet again:)


End file.
